Thanks for NOTHING Microsoft Instant Messenger!

I have been called a Windows kool-aid drinker. So when I tell you to STAY AWAY from the new MSN Live Messenger 2009 for as long as possible, please realize how horrible it must be in order to drive me to warn you about it. I just installed it 10 minutes ago and I already hate it more than any other application that Microsoft has ever made.

I regret clicking "Okay" for the install.

Everything that was good and pure about the previous version was cut from it. Everything that was frustrating about the previous version was expanded and made more difficult to use.

Above all things is the new 5 second cap on all audio files that are used for notifications. If you want to use your own file for alerts, emails, etc... it can be no longer than 5 seconds.

Lame.

I used to use this feature to help me memorize stuff. I would get audio (sometimes a minute long) of something I wanted to memorize and tag it for my incoming emails. Whenever I got a new email notification, I would stop what I was doing and recite it with the audio. It was very helpful.

Well no more. Microsoft decided to pull a Mac and destroy all true creative capability for the user. Thanks for nothing. In your own way, MSN Messenger, you have contributed another pebble to the avalanche that is the "short attention span" problem in modern culture. Shame.

There is one glimmer of silver in this dung heap of a program: you can now IM people from other services. While this is a nice feature, it is long over due and is certainly not ground-breaking. Other IM services still do it better than this attempt.

MSN Live Messenger 2009: Making instant text communication cumbersome and useless... one unsuspecting user at a time.

-P.S.: Give me my longer alert file size back!