In the midst of my work early on that day’s morning, just right after breakfast, "Lynden," the name of a person with superior credibility and reputation in my life and a close friend sent me a message on YM that "she got mugged" in London, England, UK. Lynden and I are good friends and we met as classmates in our high school years here in the Philippines. However, she now lives and works in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

In the beginning of chat, I never felt any doubt at all because I initially believed that it was the real person whom I am chatting with. And with the disclosed event that "she" revealed, I was ultimately worried about "her" situation and immediately broadcasted on Twitter to find help desperately from people all over the world.

Although on chat "she" said that "she was in London and got mugged," I never doubted this statement as the real Lynden, although residing in Australia, is a professional person and already capable of traveling anywhere in world. And we never communicated online since the last time she visited my city to spend vacation last Christmas season. 

What hinted me that it wasn’t the real person I thought I’m chatting with while I was conversing with the scammer is that "she" couldn’t speak or write our local dialect, Cebuano, which the real Lynden uses every time she communicates with me both online and offline. Already doubting, I kept digging more and throwing more questions to the scammer. I asked for more personal information that Lynden and I both knew (like the similarity of the middle name of her mother and mine, Lynden’s middle name, and the name of beach resort we went last January). I’m surprised that the scammer was able to give me a correct answer of Lynden’s middle name. However, wrong answers were given to me on other questions confirming the validity of my doubts.

Twitter proved helpful in this kind of situation as some folks replied back and gave me advices on what to do and showed me some useful information that this scamming technique is not really new. What worried me was that this scam originated from Facebook’s vulnerability or the account owner’s negligence or recklessness to secure her account. Otherwise, it could be in other means like she not knowingly used malicious software or scripts on her computer, or perhaps, permitted dangerous Facebook apps that finally stole her personal information that resulted a hack to her Facebook account.

You can read here the full chat and some screenshots of this scam attempt.

To all other Facebook users who might be reading this: be careful. You could be the next victim.

Note: Sometimes I don’t hear his questions well on my cheap headphone so I end up giving him a wrong answer. It felt like I am dumb because I didn’t follow some of his questions.

Brad is a technology enthusiast like me and a blogger. He broadcasts himself on his Justin dot TV’s channel, he does videos, and he works on his WordPress blog which is currently having a PageRank of 4.  So, I found it easy to get along with him since we have same simple, cool geeky minds (I’m sure Brad would say “Not really.”). Also, I like his English accent! Be sure to check out his blog on WordPress.  

If you are reading this and you want to chat with me as well, go on and add me in your instant messengers. Trust me, I love meeting people from different places and with that, I let myself easy to be reached online.

Yahoo Messenger: anmjoven
Windows Live: anmjoven yahoo dot com
Skype: john.raul.joven.ii

See you there!

Well actually, Windows Live services are not really attached to any Windows operating system, although Windows Vista may appear to be a “little bias” with the timing of the release. Windows Live constitutes some desktop but mainly web applications that are meant to extend and improve the Windows user experience. These experiences are grouped by Microsoft into three categories where Windows Live services and applications fall in: informed, connected and protected.

The first thing I scrutinized is the Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft’s instant messaging (IM) client previously known in its early versions as MSN Messenger. It is one of the services and software that belongs to the “connected” category of Windows Live. So, without further ado, here are the good, the bad, and the worst things (yes, they exist) of Microsoft’s flagship IM.

The Good

Considering its track record, Windows Live Messenger is the ultimate product of Microsoft’s IM “evolution” to date. I’ve used MSN Messenger before, though I admit that I am not an avid user of it because there are just terrible things that didn’t amuse me.

By first run, I was truly impressed by the lush implementation of Windows Vista-styled graphical user interface (GUI). It doesn’t just look simple, it’s straightforward and I considered it one of the sexiest IM clients I’ve seen this year next to the Yahoo Messenger for Vista pre-beta version. Well, not all GUI stuffs of this messenger are applaudable, you’ll find out later the shortcomings.

I was truly impressed by the lush implementation of Windows Vista-styled GUI. It doesn’t just look simple, it’s straightforward and I considered it one of the sexiest IM clients I’ve seen.

Functionality-wise, the Windows Live Messenger is supercharged. Chatting, voice and video call works great – no major complaints with that. Its interoperability with Yahoo Messenger really helped retain its user base (or even allured people who prefer to use Microsoft products). I really wish all other messengers will work with each other – but it’s unlikely to happen in the next few years.

I definitely like the Winks feature, similar to Yahoo Messenger’s audibles, but still very limited. Also, the Windows Live Spaces button in the Live messenger is worth-mentioning. Windows Live Spaces is Microsoft’s social community and blogging platform. Clicking the Live Space button will let you explore more of Windows Live features and enjoy them if you can.

Overall, I am glad that Microsoft did so much for this version. I love its messenger, and I wish I could give it 9 out of 10, but there are bad and worst things I’ve found out.

The Bad

Way back on MSN Messenger, the first thing I sought was the public chat rooms but with no luck. It’s one of the great features other IM (like Yahoo Messenger) are having. Though it’s also the feature that spammers and bots are enticed to attack, making messaging clients the “vector” of trojans and viruses, along with other vulnerabilities, I believe that it is a good venue to show off Microsoft’s muscles in the IM department. If anyone knows that this functionality is present, could anyone tell me please?

The ugliest thing I’ve seen in this souped up IM client are the smileys. It’s crazy – I expected that they’ve gone through the evolution but it is so disappointing to see that they are still ancient-looking. I really wondered why they didn’t change that much. Microsoft seems to be very proud of their emoticons that fail to truly exhibit serious facial expressions. People may find it difficult to express themselves using them.

Microsoft seems to be very proud of their emoticons that fail to truly exhibit serious facial expressions. People may find it difficult to express themselves using them.

I remember that I’ve lost interest in using MSN Messenger before because of the terrible emoticons, and it seems today (though many of my other complaints were addressed now), my major rant is still unchanged. Smileys still look like they were drawn by a grade three kid – they don’t amuse the adults at all. Yahoo Messenger and Skype smileys are still a lot better. Windows Live Messenger definitely has the worst smileys I’ve ever seen on an IM client.

The Expectations

If Microsoft will be successful to acquire Yahoo in their recent $42 billion bid, we would expect giant changes not only to the Windows and Yahoo messengers, but the ways we interact and market in the Web itself. It would be a big, great change. However, if that happens, I wish Microsoft would copy YM’s emoticons and make it a standard on both messengers, including other missing features. It will definitely please many people (and me).

While I’m excited with the current events involving companies who are attempting to topple down Google’s Web leadership, as a normal Web user, I guess I’ll just take a deep breath and wait for the new benefits the changes would bring.

As we all know, Yahoo Messenger (YM) is one of the most popular messengers in the world (other important messengers include MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Google Talk, etc).

Many YM users who own Vista have been waiting for quite some time. Lots of people dropped their emails through email subscription page provided by Yahoo to acquire the news as soon as it becomes available. I was one of them and I expected a lot.

By first impression, the Yahoo! Messenger for Vista preview version release looks good. Installation is smooth and easy – as usual. When I run the new messenger for the first time, it looks very modern and “Vista.” Yes, it exactly boasts a fresh-looking transparent interface, taking advantage of Windows Vista’s graphics subsystem, the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). YM for Vista lets you customize the window theme and list appearance as you desire. It looks pretty much like a widget, which is great. Soon, programs meant for Vista will follow this interface trend.

Performance-wise, I found the preview release version too slow for my messaging needs. Although I know that it’s pre-beta, considering the time Yahoo spent for the development of this application, it seems that my expectations were so high (well, I am not alone with this). Of course, the program’s chat functionality is working well and I just love the enhanced emoticons. Chat windows are contained in a single tabbed window for easier management as well. However, some useful features are missing yet (perhaps on this release). I would like to have the Archive functionality of previous versions to see easily the chat history, and the chat rooms and webcam (they are gone). The messenger window is also space-consuming by default (good thing you can resize it). Yahoo people need to tweak this out and make it fast. It’s great, however, that they provided with the installation a useful YM sidebar widget – two thumbs up for this!

Overall, the release of preview version of Yahoo! Messenger is a relief. At least this calms people losing patience for waiting the messenger meant for Vista. Yahoo deserves their time, so I guess I’ll wait until they complete it. I just hope that it would be better that time and will exceed my expectations. I just can’t wait to use it every day. For the moment, I switched back to YM version 9 beta version – perhaps until Yahoo announces the release of the next stable, functionally-complete YM for Vista.

Download Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista (preview release).