Preparing for the Windows Live Messenger Anniversary: Interesting Stories, Facts, Emoticons
Less than a month from now, on the 22nd of July to be more precise, Windows Live Messenger will celebrate its 10th anniversary. The team behind Microsoft’s IM client has already announced that with this joyous occasion, all it cares about is hearing from you, hearing how Windows Live Messenger “enabled friendships, changed lives, or just brought a lot of fun to a quick chat with a good friend or family member.”
Not to disappoint, users from all over the world have sent in their stories – and now Microsoft shares one with the rest of the world. If you would like to have your story published by Microsoft (and various other media outlets that will pick up the story), then hurry up an send yours to IloveMessenger[at]lice[dot]com by the end of the week. Please note that the email address is spoofed and also please note that by “the end of the week” I mean the actual end of the week, June 28th, not the end of the work week.
Without any further ado, here is Clem from Canada’s story about Windows Live Messenger
“ I had just met a really cute girl and we started exchanging IMs on Windows Live Messenger. Even though we were on IM, I was still pretty nervous (yes, lame i know) but of course, tried to keep it cool. Things seemed like they were going pretty well and we chatted for a little while until she said she had to go, to work on a finance homework problem that she was stuck on. Being the helpful guy that I am, I offered to help… (limited finance knowledge, but hey, I had to try). She sent me the problem over IM and I was in luck, a good friend of mine, Jon, was online. He’d know the answer. Quickly, I drafted the IM…
“Yo Jon, I’m trying hard to impress this really cute girl I just met, do you have a moment to help me figure out the answer to a finance problem so I can send it on to her. You need to help me out, she is so hot!”
…then hit send. It would probably take him a moment to respond, so I went back to the conversation with the girl… I read the last message and saw my message to Jon posted there… oh I guess I hadn’t switched windows, so I doubled checked… and that’s when I realized that I had posted that message to HER instead of Jon by accident. My jaw hit the ground and stomach fell out. I can’t really explain how embarrassed I was, and although I didn’t look in the mirror, I could feel my face heat up and I’m sure I was glowing with embarrassment like a tomato…
I didn’t know what to do… I wished you guys had built in an ‘undo’ at that point. :) All I saw from her end was ‘Jen is typing’… but no message… then ‘Jen is typing’ but no words… that went on for about 4-5 minutes, then finally, she said something like “I have to go to bed, bye” and went offline.
We actually ended up becoming friends but nothing beyond that. We never mentioned that ‘incident’, but my friends still get a good kick out of telling the story to people (yes, I have great friends) ;). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that and keep up the great work.”
That takes care of the fun story, now here is the fun Windows Live Messenger fact: if we were to think of the IM client as a country, then Windows Live Messenger would rank 3rd in the world.
In expectation of the Windows Live Messenger 10th anniversary, here’s a fun and probably useful tip for you: you can set up your own personalized emoticons if you follow a few simple steps. Click Show Menu -> Tools -> Emoticons -> Create -> Select a image -> Type the keys to be associated with the emoticon -> OK -> Scroll down to see your emoticon.
Not to disappoint, users from all over the world have sent in their stories – and now Microsoft shares one with the rest of the world. If you would like to have your story published by Microsoft (and various other media outlets that will pick up the story), then hurry up an send yours to IloveMessenger[at]lice[dot]com by the end of the week. Please note that the email address is spoofed and also please note that by “the end of the week” I mean the actual end of the week, June 28th, not the end of the work week.
Without any further ado, here is Clem from Canada’s story about Windows Live Messenger
“ I had just met a really cute girl and we started exchanging IMs on Windows Live Messenger. Even though we were on IM, I was still pretty nervous (yes, lame i know) but of course, tried to keep it cool. Things seemed like they were going pretty well and we chatted for a little while until she said she had to go, to work on a finance homework problem that she was stuck on. Being the helpful guy that I am, I offered to help… (limited finance knowledge, but hey, I had to try). She sent me the problem over IM and I was in luck, a good friend of mine, Jon, was online. He’d know the answer. Quickly, I drafted the IM…
“Yo Jon, I’m trying hard to impress this really cute girl I just met, do you have a moment to help me figure out the answer to a finance problem so I can send it on to her. You need to help me out, she is so hot!”
…then hit send. It would probably take him a moment to respond, so I went back to the conversation with the girl… I read the last message and saw my message to Jon posted there… oh I guess I hadn’t switched windows, so I doubled checked… and that’s when I realized that I had posted that message to HER instead of Jon by accident. My jaw hit the ground and stomach fell out. I can’t really explain how embarrassed I was, and although I didn’t look in the mirror, I could feel my face heat up and I’m sure I was glowing with embarrassment like a tomato…
I didn’t know what to do… I wished you guys had built in an ‘undo’ at that point. :) All I saw from her end was ‘Jen is typing’… but no message… then ‘Jen is typing’ but no words… that went on for about 4-5 minutes, then finally, she said something like “I have to go to bed, bye” and went offline.
We actually ended up becoming friends but nothing beyond that. We never mentioned that ‘incident’, but my friends still get a good kick out of telling the story to people (yes, I have great friends) ;). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that and keep up the great work.”
That takes care of the fun story, now here is the fun Windows Live Messenger fact: if we were to think of the IM client as a country, then Windows Live Messenger would rank 3rd in the world.
In expectation of the Windows Live Messenger 10th anniversary, here’s a fun and probably useful tip for you: you can set up your own personalized emoticons if you follow a few simple steps. Click Show Menu -> Tools -> Emoticons -> Create -> Select a image -> Type the keys to be associated with the emoticon -> OK -> Scroll down to see your emoticon.
