Messenger and the power of Groups

It's nice that I can start a conversation with an entire group. That's something i asked the Mac Messenger PM for last November.

One more thing messenger needs. Multiple login. You should be able to log in as 2 separate accounts at one time. Buddy list could just show groups from both, shouldn't matter if they are mixed.

The alternative would be to enable me to have different status according to different groups. So i could appear busy to a certain group, but appear available to another group.

1:41:36 PM    comment []

Ink and ink controls need a champion

I know the Tablet group at MS is working on this stuff, just need to rant a bit. I totally agree with splintercell and loren here:

One of the things I hate right now is that ink in one application is not really the same as the "same" ink in another. I want to be able to sketch a form in Journal or SketchBook, then move into, say, the VS designer, and have it be translated into a form. Or take it into OneNote and have it be recognized as text. All ink should be created equal regardless of its origin. I don't particularly care - as a user - how it's stored underneath it all: XML, meta data, bitmaps, ISF files, whatever. But I do care about being able to manipulate, share, move, and copy it just like regular text today.

This applies to the messenger input area. I should be able to have written something in journal and paste it into messenger input pane. For that matter, I should be able to paste other data formats into that input pane as well.

8:55:27 AM    comment []

Tablet Envy and Messenger holdouts

Funny, a couple of people in my office say they are going to hold out and won't download messenger 6 to see ink. Fine, you can wait for messenger to start pushing alerts to you to update in a couple of weeks! Ha! Seriously you should try it sooner than later. Have some fun, embrace the future, man! We are a company always talking about the future and future technologies, future interaction concepts, but our own adoption rate is pretty low.

Messenger's built-in webcam support is cool. It changes the way I will interact with people through messenger. This will bring people closer together being able to see each other more easily. This is what I was talking about the other day, integration, aggregation. Need to pick up a webcam for the tablet at the office.

Some might complain that it's feature bloat, but I believe that this helps fullfill what XP promised and people have been wanting and talking about for years. I was trying it out with a couple of people last night, its very cool. Just in the past couple of weeks, i had signed our parents up on Windows messenger because xp logs them in automatically when they sign in and had hopes that webcam support would be better so they could webcam with the kids easier with the kids. Now, voila, it is real.

8:16:38 AM    comment []