In the last few days I’ve upgraded my MSN Messenger to the new MSN Live Messenger primarily as it finally offers the first step in the right direction by being able to communicate with Yahoo messenger users plus with the absorbing of  the FolderShare technology that I used in the past until the service became a pay for only option.

The look & feel and how some of the previous instant messenger functions don’t appear to as well realised with the new MSN Messenger.  For example the colours used to indicator when someone is on or off line aren’t as distinctly different, sa rather recognising someone’s status with a glance you have to look with a little more care – which in my opinion is a step backward.

With the new MSN Live push has been a further promotion of MSNSpaces, the Microsoft alternative to MySpace.  I have been intrigued by the attraction of MySpace and MSNSpaces has had to people.  To be honest, I struggle to see what they offer, beyond features that are already available on the net – bulletin boards exist; blogs do; and online photo albums as well.  Having had a quick tinker with MySpace and now MSNSpaces (http://mp3monster.spaces.msn.com/). I can’t say that they offer these features in a manner that beat the best solutions (like WordPress and Flickr).  So what is the attraction, simply that they’re all under one virtual roof?  The fact that they have drawn a reasonable number of people there already?

If this is the attraction, then whoever integrates the best offerings combined with a good market reach stands an exceptional chance of seizing a very large slice of the market.

Why do I have an MSN Space?  Well to be honest, because a friend was setting up a space and in replying to the friendship request Microsoft get you to create a your own address. Content wise it only exists to point people back to this website.  I have the ability to work the best of breed solutions together like WordPress and Flickr.

What ever the outcome my current MSNSpace is here, but everything will remain with the website.