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  • New Windows Live Messenger has same old privacy problems

    Posted on June 28, 2010 at 23:21 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    Why do I get the impression that some folks at Microsoft just don’t get it?

    Case in point. I raked MS over the coals for the really stupid privacy busting “features” in Messenger/Hotmail. Microsoft’s PR agency hit me with a nastygram suggesting I re-evaluate my conclusions. I looked again, and came away sure as ever that I was right – there was no way to effectively keep Microsoft from “sharing” private information in truly remarkable ways.

    You can read the details in my Windows Secrets article of April 22, and follow-up on the WS Lounge. (That Lounge post, by the way, has become the most-frequently-read post on the Lounge, ever, in the 15-year history of the Lounge.)

    I’ve been playing with the beta of the new Windows Live Essentials, including Messenger 2011. And guess what? Microsoft zapped a whole bunch of privacy-sapping settings, made the interface easier to use – and completely missed the point that I brought up in that article.

    I’ve posted updated information about the hole in my InfoWorld blog. I’m still trying to figure exactly how badly MS screwed up this time, and when I have the full details, I’ll run them in Windows Secrets Newsletter.

    It’s like the whole thing went whooooooooosh right over the Windows Live folks’ heads.

    UPDATE: The InfoWorld blog just got Slashdotted.

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