Legacy Yahoo Messenger App Being Retired (pcmag.com) 61
Reader Irishman writes: Looks like August 5, 2016 is the last day for people clinging to the old desktop version of Yahoo Messenger. A new version is supposedly in the works but otherwise, it will be the mobile app or the web version. From a PCMag report: According to a new announcement from Yahoo, the company is officially killing off the old version of Messenger for good. You might be able to find it to download from some software archive website, but you won't be able to use it to chat with your friends. Yahoo is also switching up how it archives previous conversations. Any conversation histories you currently have (from using Messenger) are archived in Yahoo Mail, but they'll be going away on August 5 as well. You'll be able to export them to your desktop or laptop if you really need to save whatever it is you have typed to your friends.
This kills YM completely! (Score:1)
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who cares?
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Anything but "Skype for business" - which is probably one of the causes of the spectular growth of Slack.
You would think that chat is a solved problem by now. Even Sametime in Lotus Notes is okay. But Skype... plain terrible. It's as if they wanted to cater to the kewl crowd by giving it a texting look & feel, but it just sucks.
Re:This kills YM completely! (Score:5, Insightful)
It is solved. The problem is that the solution turned out to be Facebook Messenger.
Re: This kills YM completely! (Score:3)
It's kinda nice that no one users YM to be social. Makes it easier to tell if an employee is just slacking off. I think slack is a much better option for businesses though.
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As I'm sure you're aware, there are blatant privacy issues with fb messenger. You really shouldn't use it at all, especially not for business or anything remotely sensitive.
A separate, dedicated chat service offers better privacy. They can be more secure when used with third party clients, and the fact it's separated from the browser means it doesn't track your history or associate your chat with an online dossier like facebook. Obviously this is the reason yahoo is pulling the plug on the desktop client b
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Not that I really care, since I'm not on FB, but who gives a shit? Name one piece of software or platform that sees widespread, gen pop use that doesn't have some sort of privacy or security issue. I'll wait.
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Name one piece of software or platform that sees widespread, gen pop use that doesn't have some sort of privacy or security issue.
Windows 10!
Re:This kills YM completely! (Score:4, Interesting)
Anything but "Skype for business" - which is probably one of the causes of the spectular growth of Slack.
You would think that chat is a solved problem by now. Even Sametime in Lotus Notes is okay. But Skype... plain terrible. It's as if they wanted to cater to the kewl crowd by giving it a texting look & feel, but it just sucks.
Gonna have to disagree with you there. Sametime is hands down the worst chat system I've ever used. We have used it for years at my office. Everyone's taken to calling it sometime because sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Yahoo messenger isn't great but at least it usually works.
Re:This kills YM completely! (Score:5, Funny)
Did Netcraft confirm this?
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Yes. Also slashdotting is back...maybe...netcraft confirmed that too.
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Pidgin still works fine. I just checked and my account is still connected. Do I lose my pidgin connection soon? I have 0 buddies on yahoo so I do not really care. I just use it to keep the old screen name active.
Kickstarter (Score:1)
Re:This kills YM completely! (Score:4, Interesting)
Wow. Just wow.
I have over 500 contacts in my Y!M list, out of which I am usually chatting with about 30 of them.
Yahoo Web messenger is horrible. Generally speaking, any messenger that loads in a browser window is horrible.
I'm wondering what are the alternatives...
Facebook is a total no-go. Whatsapp requires a valid phone number, many people I know don't want to provide their phone number just for a chat service. Google Talk would be the best alternative I can think of.
Re:This kills YM completely! (Score:4, Informative)
Google talk has a decent phone based chat but their desktop software is web based and annoying. There are some plugins for Pidgin but they don't work as well as the official software.
ya-who? (Score:2)
(says it all)
Shock (Score:5, Interesting)
When the human body goes into shock from blood loss, the first reaction is to shut off blood flow to the extremities so there is enough blood left to keep the brain and core going. I see this announcement as analogous for Yahoo, except it's "cash shock" at work.
Well then.. (Score:5, Funny)
Back to ICQ I guess.
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Back?
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Back my ass. Leaving is for quitters and I aint no quitter you insensitive clod!
yet another nail in the coffin (Score:2)
for Trillian and Pidgin.
I used to be invested in MSN chat... then that went away.
Now I just have Google, Yahoo!, AOL and FB in my Trillian client.
I fully expect FB to go next, followed by Google. AOL doesn't have enough market share to be a bully so I am guessing that will be my new primary chat network (until they go under or get bought out).
One at a time, I will be dropping off chat networks. There is no way I am being railroaded into bloatware chat apps though.
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AOL doesn't have enough market share to be a bully so I am guessing that will be my new primary chat network (until they go under or get bought out
Verizon already acquired AOL.
And every messenger wants a mobile number (Score:4, Informative)
Logged in to icq.com to change my icq password and suddenly it reported a compromised account (i guess because it never saw the ip before) and required me to add a mobile number to the account. If i were an attacker, i now not only had the old password (and can change it to a new one), but would even have added my number as recovery option. So i guess security isn't the issue here, they want to collect phone numbers.
And without adding it, i can login with a client, but sending a message returns, that the account is locked.
Thankfully it was only an old account i never used much and not my primary one.
Re:And every messenger wants a mobile number (Score:5, Insightful)
That is what my Google Voice Number is for. And why I have a few of them.
Yahoo is a big deal in commodities trading (Score:5, Interesting)
I work in physical commodities trading. Think cargoes of fuel, grain, derivatives, etc. 90% of my deals are closed via Yahoo, either directly with counterparties or via brokers. Brokers "flash" obscure quotes for things such as Eurobob/WTI spreads, ethanol, calendar spread swaps, truckloads of X ready to go to Y, etc. Not sure if there are any profesions who rely on Yahoo as much as mine. (Incidentally, a lot of guys in other markets use AOL, mostly natural gas).
Re:Yahoo is a big deal in commodities trading (Score:5, Insightful)
I work in physical commodities trading. Think cargoes of fuel, grain, derivatives, etc. 90% of my deals are closed via Yahoo, either directly with counterparties or via brokers. Brokers "flash" obscure quotes for things such as Eurobob/WTI spreads, ethanol, calendar spread swaps, truckloads of X ready to go to Y, etc. Not sure if there are any profesions who rely on Yahoo as much as mine. (Incidentally, a lot of guys in other markets use AOL, mostly natural gas).
You are saying that a significant part of our core economic infrastructure depends on AOL and Yahoo?
I'm leaving.....
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100% true. Yahoo and AOL for sure. In the end, one will use whatever technology stack necessary to make themselves rich.
Re:Yahoo is a big deal in commodities trading (Score:4, Interesting)
I recall doing some work for a commodities trader at one point (about 10 years ago).
He was using Yahoo! and AOL messenger and needed a way to record all conversations that he and his staff were having while using these platforms.
I remember setting up a Jabber server as a proxy and did all the logging at the server level.
Anyway, it is interesting to hear your comment. Thanks for sharing.
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Do you know why that is the case? (I don't know. Just curious.) Yahoo finance used to have some interesting features and seemed ahead of its time for a free service. Was the messenger adoption in your industry a draft effect from this?
Re: You might as well do 3-way with the US Governm (Score:1)
You say what to download, and where to download it, what you don't say is why you think the rest of tails is compromised. Citation please.
Ya... Who? (Score:1)
Are you telling me that those losers are actually still around? Talk about some epic strugglers... Yahoo has been trying to claw their way out of a grave(which they dug themselves) for nearly as long as they've been around.
I wish they would stop fighting it and just die already... it's embarrassing seeing this once proud company fighting death like this... struggling for every last breath... kind of like AOL... poor bastards.
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Reasons... (Score:3)
Hidden in the FAQ is the real reason: Die, Pidgin! (Score:1)
Q: Can I use Yahoo Messenger with 3rd party messaging apps?
A: No. The new version of Yahoo Messenger doesn't work with 3rd party clients, like Trillian and Pidgin.
The entire reason for them shutting this down is to cut off 3rd-party chat apps so you're forced to use their solution, including any embedded ads and backdoors they implement. Pidgin and Trillian both support out-of-band encryption and security plugins so you can hide the content of your chats entirely, but this new platform entirely blocks that
3rd Party Clients? (Score:2)
I assume they will still work with the same servers?