hi Simon.
there might be more differences than these, but these are the ones i
know about (have either used, or read about but not used). excuse me
for repeating any that you already know about. this is also for the
benefit of other readers.
you must have a .Net passport and sign in to use Messenger.
you do not need a passport to use Net Meeting.
with Messenger, you can only communicate with people who are in your
Contact List, but you cannot communicate with somebody you do not know.
with Net Meeting, you can communicate with people you know, plus
communicate with total strangers using ILS servers.
you can place calls to regular telephones using MSN Messenger or with
Phone Dialer, but not with Win Messenger or Net Meeting.
as you know, MSN Messenger has more bells and whistles for personal
pleasure, such as interactive games, radio, alerts, reminders, and even
the ability to send messages to wrist watches capable of receiving text
messages, such as models by Swatch and Fossil. As if those were not
enough, you can add more bells and whistles with MSN Plus from
www.msgplus.net
using Net Meeting or Phone Dialer, you can place a call to an IP
address, or to the PC of a friend who has a URL redirected to his/her PC
(e.g.
www.mycousin.No-IP.com), but not using either Messenger.
phone calls to friends in Philippines are better with Net Meeting.
with either Messenger, the sound broke up more for us, and the delay was
longer, resulting in talking at the same time the other person's
remarks were reaching me, and vice versa. to avoid further confusion,
we resorted to using "Walkie-Talkie" terms like "Over". this might be
an intermittent problem, or only a problem with Messenger over great
distances.
Win Messenger added conferencing features from Net Meeting and Phone
Dialer, so if you want to have voice or video conversations with more
than 2 people simultaneously, use Phone Dialer or Win Messenger, but not
MSN Messenger. if you want to use a Whiteboard or application sharing
with more than 2 people simultaneously, use Net Meeting or Win
Messenger, but not MSN Messenger.
Net Meeting uses different ports than both Messengers, so Net Meeting
users cannot have voice or video conversation with either Messenger, and
vice-versa.
Net Meeting and Phone Dialer are built into Windows. as you know, MSN
Messenger can be added to Windows. Win Messenger is only built into XP,
so Win Messenger is not an option for pre-XP users.
