Mac i-chat and MSN

Question

Mac i-chat and MSN

Hello everyone,
I know I'm lazy and this has probably already been answered somewhere in this forum, but I can't be bothered spending ages searching for it. Why is i-Chat not compatible directly with MSN. Let's face it, no really uses ichat in the big wide world. MSN is the standard. Is there a reason why MSN hasn't been updated for Macs to include the audio and video functions that the Windows versions have had for ages? What's the easiest and free way of chatting video/audio with all my friends that use MSN? Any help would be much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Nick.

MacBook Pro 17", Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Jul 29, 2006 10:24 AM

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Answer 1

Defcom-UK

Level 6

15,494 points

Jul 29, 2006 11:01 AM in response to Nick Jackson2

Ask MSN they make MSNmessenger.

Get Skype for Mac preview http://www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/videopreview.html that will be the easiest route.

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Answer 2

Jul 30, 2006 5:53 AM in response to Nick Jackson2

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/amsn/amsn-0-96-RC1-Universal.dmg?use_mirror=s uperb-west

Problem solved. aMSN Allows you to connect to MSN with webcam on a Mac!

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Answer 3

Jul 30, 2006 1:23 PM in response to Nick Jackson2

What I'd like to see is Apple develop an iChat for Windows program.

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Answer 4

Jul 30, 2006 1:50 PM in response to Richard Hall

In the meantime you can use Skype for Mac to PC video connections.

<http://www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/videopreview.html>

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Answer 5

Fredrikr

Level 1

5 points

Jul 30, 2006 5:23 PM in response to Nick Jackson2

I think the real interesting question here is when the heck Microsoft is going to release a new version of MSN for mac?
I mean, how ridiculously old isn't the current version (v. 5.whatever)??

And AMSN is definitely a candidate for the award of "the lousiest GUI ever made". All the windows are scattered everywhere, it's slow, the contents within the windows doesn't seem to follow any particular order... sigh

However, since someone apparently managed to make an application that can actually communicate with PC users of MSN with both text and video, one would think that it shouldn't be too hard for Microsoft to release an official version that does the same thing. But no. They just lack the will of doing so as they just have to see everything from their making-the-computer-industry-into-our-own-little-monopoly point of view.

I tried the Skype beta-version that supports webcam between Mac and PC and it worked pretty nice! However you could tell that it was still a beta as the video window was quite small on the mac, and on the PC some sort of special "video window" had to open up. Hopefully it won't look like that in the final release!

Back to MSN again though... Has anyone heard anything about Microsoft planning to release at least the lowest version of MSN that supports webcam?

MBPro 2,16 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

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Answer 6

Jul 30, 2006 8:07 PM in response to Fredrikr

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but this might be of use to the problem I have. Can I use Skype to do plain audio chat between my mac and someone using AIM on a PC? Because iChat won't work...

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Answer 7

Jul 31, 2006 5:33 AM in response to Sam Austin

Skype doesn't interact with AIM, but you could use Skype on both ends to audio chat between a Mac and a PC.

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Answer 8

Jul 31, 2006 5:38 AM in response to Fredrikr

The new Skype Mac Preview version allows up to full-screen video, and Skype for the PC can be configured to start video automatically.

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