No more Caller ID and Messenger
Making the decision to remove features (or regress functionality as we call) are never taken lightly. For this release I’m actually the only program manager who removed whole features areas (caller ID and messenger).
Both these decisions were painful but made together as a feature team and then were communicated very broadly within the group before actually happening to ensure we were making the right decision for the product. For both cases we had very good reasons to remove these features. We removed Messenger because Windows Messenger which have a very large dependency on was removed from Windows Vista and it would have been a very large investment for our team to build our own Messenger backend functionality from scratch. And we removed Caller ID because of the high on going dev and test support cost for a feature used by a very small number of people (none of our major OEMs ship caller ID modems and those who do disable the feature in MCE because TAPI conflicts with most fax software) while third party addins do a better job.
While we really had no choice about Messenger I know that by removing the caller ID functionality our dev and test teams have been able to focus their attention on areas of the product used by several order of magnitude more users. So unfortunately I can’t point to a new feature and say, we cut caller ID but implemented XYZ, because that’s not the case. I can say that the dev who would have spent their time on caller ID is now better able to focus on delievering a solid Media Center platform for our developers. A platform which has already delievered better caller ID programs then what we built.
I’m sorry we cut these features but it’s the right decision.
Update: Check out my co-worker Charlie’s blog for his spin on this, Our Loss Is Your Gain:
So, what company will be first to take advantage and deliver experiences which put our originals to shame (using the new Windows media Center Presentation Layer Application model, of course).
Well said!
Actually, to me that makes perfect sense. However, to make sense the Live Messenger team should work on an 10-foot add-in. And so should many other teams. I’m suprised it hasn’t happened already since Microsoft is usually excellent at promoting it’s other products by interoperability. (Sometimes even exclusive interoperability like in MCE 2005.)
It doesn’t seem that MCE has gotten that kind of intergrated part of Windows stature I was hoping for. IMHO, Microsoft is still giving the impression that MCE is still just an extra feature with limited support.
I also find it strange that the Windows Media Player team and the MCE team doesn’t promote further interoperability. The interfaces only remotely resembles the same logic and both provide similar features but in very different ways. Certainly using a 2-foot interface and a 10-foot interface is different in many ways but don’t think that it’s not one and the same person using them both.
Thanks for removing caller ID ;-)
Now we don’t need to explain to our new customers why our TapiRex is better than the built-in caller ID.
Hope you can now use these resources better.
Christoph
Scendix Software, Inc.
Makers of TapiRex, the extended caller ID (MCE plugin available)
“none of our major OEMs ship caller ID modems and those who do disable the feature in MCE because TAPI conflicts with most fax software”
You know, there’s a lesson to be learned in there somewhere, but damned if I know what it is… :-)
So Christoph - does TapiRex work with MCE Vista?
I’m assuming you consider Dell a major OEM. I have a Dell and use the caller ID feature, so something’s not right there.
I also assume you’re correct that it is not used by many people (though I’d be curious to know how you know that). However, it’s one of the things that make friends and family go “Wow!” when they see it on my TV. It definitely adds to my MCE pitch to them.
In any case this is one voice that disagrees with your decision to drop it. Sure there will be 3rd party s/w to do the same thing, but I’m a little tired of searching for 3rd party apps and finding too often that they are sub-par; especially for such a seemingly basic feature.
Our Loss Is Your Gain
@AndyM: So Christoph - does TapiRex work with MCE Vista?
We will try our best to make all our products work on Vista. I am sure that mceTapiRex will be Vista compatible shortly.
Thnak you for the explanation. I agree with Peter Near; caller ID is a cool feature, but not core.
I don’t know about major OEM’s but caller ID works with my Dell XPS M170 (which is a laptop)
Well I’m sad to see both features go. Caller ID is a great feature and one that produces the desired ‘wow’ factor when people who are unfamiliar with MCE are around.
As for messenger, I don’t often use it but for times when I’m not on my laptop or sat at my desk, running messenger on my stand alone MCE box is a nice to have. It is the only reason I have purchased the MCE keyboard as well!
Fingers crossed that Live Messenger will eventually be usable within the Vista MCE interface…
Your reasoning for removing Messenger makes sense and I can’t say that I’m disappointed given that I rarely use the function now.
But I was very much hoping that the basic messenger functionality that existed would grow into a full VOIP function and the ability to exchange photos, etc like we can in a full desktop version of Messenger.
Adding VOIP support to TV-viewing, in other words, being able to watch TV with a remote friend, could really be a killer app for MCE and MS.
I bought a modem specifically to get caller ID on my MCE box so I am a bit disappointed that this feature got cut. Guess I will have to look for an add-in that does the job now.
hi, I currently got some caller id boxes for pcs, it can distribute id numbers directly to your pc via USB which is designed for BT landline. the software is completly free and you can make your own applications using this software. (u can use VB6, Delphi5, VC6, C++Builder5,VFP6,PB6,etc.)
just contact me
calleridusb@gmail.com
UGH! CALLER ID IS GONE??!!! Sorry… I get the messenger thing but Caller ID was a bigger feature than you give credit to… why not just migrate the old code … like they did with the HORRIBLE character map.
OK, My 10 second rant… ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY MESSENGER SUPPORT BACK. I do not ask a lot, and I COMPLETELY understand removing Windows Messenger, but why not do an add in for messenger, or get Nemo going or something, I am going back to MCE 2005 and I will NOT upgrade until I get this. I feel bad for the people who are going to support Vista. They are going to get killed on the phone because the average end user doing an upgrade wants current features, not new ones replacing core ones.
I am developing free caller-id functionality for Windows Vista; the goal is to make it as lightweight as possible while integrating seamlessly; you can find out more at http://www.vista-caller-id.com
I am hugely dissapointed to hear that there will be no more messenger integration as well. I also have the MCE Keyboard and it was so awesome to be able to chat with friends while watching TV from the bed or couch. Has there been any news of a 3rd party add-in to bring this functionality back?
This is the worst thing about vista. I loved caller ID, and now you took it away. Thanks alot.
This is not a good idea, I bought a modem for my xp mce 2005 pc just to use this feature 2 years ago…..now that I upgraded to vista mce…..no caller ID?????? ouch!!!!!
Have just upgraded my MCE2005 to Vista Media Center, and was VERY disappointed when I discovered that the Messenger function was removed.
I really hope you will realize the value and integrate Vista Media Center with Live Messenger in coming updates.
Worm can opened: MCE Vista featureset (or lack thereof)…
Wow, I am amazed at the flurry of activity this morning after Matt Goyer made a few posts about MCE in……
teaching english overseas…
teaching english overseas…