http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/interne...eut/index.html
???????

Makes sense. Think of the legal risks in running a chat network, especially the bigger the company is. Some pervert could pick up kids, do nasty things, go to jail and such. The parents of those unfortunate kids then decide to sue the living hell out of MS for providing the environment.

do note in the second part of the article it goes onto saying that Microsoft will be opening new chat rooms that you have to subscribe to, and give all of your details to them.

I think its safe to say its not about protecting children.

if little susan or tommy gets molested by a pedofile from chat, i think the parents should catch a serious beat down along with the pedofile. I may dislike MS products and business tactics but i cant blame a free chat provider for kids being molested. maybe if the pedofile worked for MS then sure, i could understand.

it's like that one lady who wanted to sue McDonald's becauser her kid was fat. the judge threw it out because McDonald's was not doing anything sneaky or underminded that wasnt common public knowledge (eat hamburgers every day and you will have lard ass). well the same would apply in court (meet loonies off the internet, you may get molested).

so there really is (or should not be) any legal risk in providing a free service all risk is on the user

MS should just slap a nice message "CHAT AT YOUR OWN RISK, WE WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MOLESTED KIDS" and keep moving.

exactly.

just another sleazy m$ move to exit a non-revenue business, collect personal info, lock more people into their product, and attempt to curry public favor by using the universal "it's for the children" line.

I myself think it is a great idea, and i seriously dont think it is because they want your information to solicit spam and such things. If any of you had kids you would agree with me 100%
It pisses me off to hear people slam something JUST BECAUSE it is M$ .
Its almost like even if Bill gates himself came up with a cure for every deseise in the world you would all still say he or his company are evil and that in some way he was doing more harm then good. It is disgusting to hear the kind of single mindedness that i have read here.

I use both Linux and Windows , they both have advantages, and for anyone to talk crap about someone or something just because they themselves find it sooo hard to beleive anyone would do anything just because it is the right thing to do is a sad individual indeed.

first, you are confusing issues - that 'windows' is a good product or not has nothing to do with whether the m$ corporation shut down chat out of altruism.

second, in general, the idea that a multinational corporation does anything for non-financial reasons is dubious. but when that corporation is m$, it would seem to require a great amount of faith. there are more accounts of underhanded, abusive, and uncivil behaviour on the part of m$ than you could read in a lifetime, so no need to go into them here. perhaps shutting chat down represents a complete paradigm shift for the company, and was done to signal that they've abandoned their prior strategy. who knows.

but, of course, you are entitled to your opinion, and without being labeled 'disgusting' or 'sad,' however incorrect we may feel that opinion to be.

How much liability / culpability will that give MS? I "know a guy" who has nearly a dozen Hotmail accounts without ever giving his realy info.

i dunno, i suppose it doesnt matter. No matter where you have to register online people often give fake details, iv done it myself. That wouldnt mean that the data isnt worth something :P

when i said that though i didnt mean M$ would sell on the details, they might do but i doubt it. It would be more for their own use

S8AN - im not saying its a bad thing just because its M$. Having to subscribe to chat rooms wont change a damn thing, some people are stupid and will do stupid things regardless of how much protection they are given. I would say the same thing had any other company done the same thing.

I dont use any chat related web things apart from IRC, and i cant imagine ever having to subscribe to IRC

I am sorry if i came across as being kind of and ass, but i have migrated from Windows to Linux and the response i have been greeted with is less that satisfactory. Most of the time if i ask a noob question to a long time Linux user, or even one who knows the basics i get a smart ass remark back. Something like "stfu you dumb troll" ??????? it baffles me as to why that is. It almast makes me look at the Linux comunity as a cult that want everything to stay a secret, if you dont know Linux basics people dont even want to share any info with you, and its not like that in the windows community.
I have also learned that the last thing you want to say to someone who uses Linux is that you like Windows, they will call you everything under the sun. Sorry i guess i am steriotyping but it is the experience i have had and i guess i was waiting for a bitter response to my post.

So to get on to the real sub, i guess one reason i agree with the chat room regestration thing is because i have a child, and anything that makes it harder for a kid to go to an chat room and see a bunch of horny old men talk about ejaculation and how they wanna show all the girls there junk , is a good plan i think.

I will also say in defence of Billy that he has done much more good in the world then bad, he supports charities and all sorts of donations to gene research, kids science centers, and colleges.
Yes he may be a rich bastard who alot of peeps hate because of his superb buiseness skills , but at least he isnt greedy like everyone says he is. I hear about everything he does, i live just 40 miles from the M$ headquarters in Washington state, so he is on news alot for doing very good things.

Wow didnt mean to go off on a tangent and start talkin all this good stuff , but i guess this is my chance to say what i wanted and not have 50 peeps telling me to STFU that they dont want to hear the truth.

S8AN, you do realise that unless Gates gives X Million $$$'s away then he gets hit by a huge government tax? thats the only reason he gives money away, because if he doesnt give it away he'l be taxed even more.

Also look at the direction he 'gives money away'. Most the time youl find he gives software to schools and to other work places. He doesnt just 'give money away' to those that need it most, Its distributed in such a way that he can hold onto the worlds mindshare, and so that school teachers start teaching subjects such as VB that locks you into the windows platform.

Im not saying he is necessarily a bad person, but if he wanted to do good for the world then he could. M$ are doing little more now than damaging the industry since they have nobody competing with them. Bill could do wonders for the industry if he actually wanted to, but hed rather carry on extorting people.

as for your remarks about Linux users, a few people say that but iv never encountered it myself. From the (few) places that iv been talking with other Linux users, iv never really seen that hostility. At times the reaction is justified (why should we have to google for something you could have?) but more often than not the Linux community is the strongest out there (well, as far as OSs go :P)

I think that these sleazy old men need to be stoned...and yes the parents are partially responsible for not educating their children about the real world danger while "chatting".
On the M$ trying to get another foot hole in your pocket and your info; I really wouldn't put it past them. But, you can say that about most companies.


I'm still sticking with the stoning of the pedophiles!!!!!