UK and MSN Messenger - why the popularity?

[asheep_uk]

I have AIM (which I hate using) and MSN Messenger. All my contacts in the UK are on MSN Messenger. People I meet on holiday from up north use it, so it isn't just my local area. My cousins in Swansea, Wales use MSN Messenger.

I can't quite figure out how Microsoft managed to get loads of people in one country to use their stuff, but it seems most of the USA uses AIM.

[Onionboy]

well i use it because im more comfortable with it.

its seems to be better built than aim.

just the whole msn experience seems a lot nicer.


i only use aim for the games i play online, to keep in contact with gaming clans etc. other than that i have all my business contacts and friends on msn.

icq i havent used in ages since they removed a ton of features.

[pooon]

I don't find that at all. Just about everyone on my lists use msn, a small amount use icq, and one person uses aim.

[pooon]

oh, and I think three people in the world use yahoo.

[Onionboy]

yahoo? haha, i only ever signed up to that so i could play pool online.

[jamble]

I don't know the answer but as with most people in the UK, I use MSN (well, technically not anymore as I switched to Trillian) but most of my chums are on MSN too.

[aversion]

I think AOL has a crappier image in europe than it does in the US, though I imagine it's crap in both places, and though it's still one of the biggest ISPs here most computer savvy people will avoid being associated with it, even if their parents have it as the ISP for example...

[Sir Ricxalot]

Probably because of hotmail, most of the people I knew during college had a hotmail account (in fact most people I know at uni have one), so it made sense to use MSN messenger with the hotmail account.

[pooon]

Did anyone ever use hotmail before it was owned by microsoft. Those were the days, just about any e-mail address was avaliable.

[gerbick]

coming from an ICQ background first, I'd really like to use only MSN truthfully. But I use AIM mainly because of my Linux friends having access to GAIM, and my Mac friends using iChat - which I use as well.

[aversion]

ICQ used to be better than msn but now it just seems messy. If they got their act together with the design and structure of it it would be more desirable, it saves conversations, allows you to send messages to people offline, etc.

[random_fool]

Originally posted by aversion
ICQ used to be better than msn but now it just seems messy. If they got their act together with the design and structure of it it would be more desirable, it saves conversations, allows you to send messages to people offline, etc.

Both of which Yahoo had four years ago...

I actually need (job requirement) to have all three, and I find myself using AIM more than the others. I can only think of one client that actually USES MSN (most have names, most don't use them), and about 15-20 that use AIM.

[rugbystud]

Everyone used to have a hotmail account, so therefore jsut used msn as it got introduced, I presume.

[hockyfan]

Trillian user here, but living in the US, most people I know are on AIM. However most of my contacts from various boards don't live here, and they're all on MSN.

I had to use Yahoo once to contact a board admin, and it was pretty nice how you could send an offline message.



h

[aversion]

Originally posted by random_fool
Both of which Yahoo had four years ago...

as did ICQ, but yahoo messenger, like ICQ, is nasty to use in my humble opinion.

I think overall icq is the best app but it's so poorly packaged.

[Olly K]

I like msn, it looks prettier. Plus all my mates use it so it made sense for me to aswell.

Aol has a very lame image in the UK, they have the cheesiest adverts ever and I have several coffee-mats that AOL kindly sent me a free 2month trial on

[iqevil]

MSN all the way!! Mainly because it lookes better and everyone I know uses it.

[bvgroote]

pfft get with the times people, trillian is the way to go!

[cosmiceye]

people in scandinavia (including me) dont even know what AIM is...

[Karl|Oldman]

I used to use ICQ in early days, but then my mates and such started using PCs/Internet and they used MSN. So I use msn [aMSN for Linux to be exact] and its fine, no probs !