Due to standard IT restrictions on the downloading of software, I’ve been stuck with MSN Messenger version 1.0 for a very long time. It’s deprived me of a more sophisticated repertoire of animated emoticons like the barfing Pacman, the chance to see your funny ID photo and enigmatic applications such as Chalkboard.
So the day our IT administrator came to install some XP updates and then left to go and attend to a minor Blackberry crisis, I seized the moment and starting feverishly downloading all manner of updates.
5 minutes later I had a brand new shiny Windows Live Messenger and 5 minutes later I had spat it out of my PC. Because if Microsoft are consciously trying to be the absolute inverse of beautiful Apple user simplicity (which seems to be quite popular these days), then Windows Live Messenger is the glorious apotheosis of their master project.
It’s the ultimate intrusive Cillit Bang headfuck. The wonderfully discreet and minimalist Messenger 1.0 box that subtly nestled in the corner is over. Microsoft have clearly decided that WLM is the ONLY thing you’ll ever need your computer for. So you now have two windows open automatically which obscure the entire screen. And the menu on your left features all manner of branded links to websites they deem you would like to have, ads flash along the bottom in scrolling text, and the dialogue box is twice the size of its predecessor.
I’ve always disliked the smug anti-Microsoft tribalism of the Maclifers but I feel, like in Graham Greene’s brilliant novel The Quiet American, “sooner or later, one has to take sides”. On one side, maximised functionality that steamrollers any consideration of aesthetics or actually starting from the point of meeting a consumer need. On the other, a responsive, design led philosophy that seems to make our lives easier, simpler and just that little bit more classy.
And now of course we have the iPhone. Don't expect the first iteration to be that great. New Apple products and Operating Systems are notoriously glitch heavy first time round and that's a worry for them. We can manage without our iPod for a couple of weeks whilst it's down the garage but people have basic assumptions of cast iron reliability with their mobile phones. Maybe the prohibitively high price is designed to attract only the most evangelical Mac addicts who won't rock the boat. Blogmarch respectfully suggests you wait for the third mini iPod equivalent version cos by then they'll have it cracked.
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iPhone, Windows Messenger, Graham Greene, Quiet American
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