Like most Americans, I’ve been using the AOL Instant Messenger IM network for the last 10 years or so. As I’ve made more friends who prefer other networks, I expanded to multi-platform IM clients that let me sign into all the major IM networks at once. I’ve used Trillian, Adium, Meebo, and Pidgin over the years, and I have active screen names on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, GTalk, and various Jabber services. So when it was announced that the Xbox 360 would include an MSN Messenger client with the Spring update, I was excited. I’m already signed in to MSN all the time, so I thought this would just be another great way to stay connected.
Unfortunately, MSN has a pretty big problem. Whenever you sign in to your MSN account from one location, it signs off, all the other locations. If I’m running Pidgin on my desktop and I open Meebo on my laptop, my desktop gets signed out. And when I start my Xbox, it automatically signs on and knocks everybody else off. The end result is that I’m almost never signed in to MSN, which pretty much defeats the purpose. My buddy list reflects this – my friends are online only when their Xboxes are on. It’s worth pointing out that Yahoo Messenger suffers from this problem too, but it doesn’t bother me as much since I don’t have many Yahoo friends.
With more and more devices getting IM capability, I can’t see how this restriction can continue. My desktop is always on and signed in to my IM client. My phone will have an always-on IM client. Another one on my Xbox. Another on my laptop. Another at work. And I’m switching between them all the time. And with more and more people using multi-protocol clients, they’re less likely to notice the one account that’s decided to sign itself off. It’s especially frustrating on the Xbox, since it means I can’t just use my laptop to send IMs to my friends while I play and still get notifications on my TV. IM has the potential to be awesome on the Xbox, but not as long as it’s stuck with a one-device-at-a-time protocol.
Tags: Instant Messaging, MSN Messenger, Xbox 360
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That’s currently a feature of jabber clients. Private protocols like MSN, Y!, AIM/ICQ, and others suffer from the one login at a time. I cant find out how to get AIM or ICQ to log in multiple times from multiple locations at this time.
Actually I have no problem logging in to AIM with multiple clients. I get notified that I am, and given the choice to log out on EACH client that is on at the same time, but unless I respond in a way that logs a client out, they all continue to stay on. I will get the same message repeated to all clients, when one is sent to me. So, as far as I know, AIM actually supports multiple client logins.
I also would love it if msn did also.
Yes, as I mentioned in the post, AIM and GTalk/Jabber allow multiple logins, MSN doesn’t.
MSN, or WLM (Windows Live Messenger) as it’s called now, does support being logged in from multiple locations. However, so far it’s only the newer Windows clients and a Web Messenger in Singapore(!?) http://webim.live.sg/ that supports it. Logging in with any other client will throw you out from all other locations.
I would love for other clients to support this feature. It might be a proprietary protocol, but why doesn’t the other Microsoft clients (e.g. X-box and Mac) support this?