Friday, January 9, 2004
Messenger and Passport: A Little Lame?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 03:00 PM
This is mostly an off-topic rant, but it relates to Messenger and Passport on the Pocket PC as well. Two things bugged me this week about these items: first, I got this error message when I tried to add someone to my Messenger list:
Upon counting, it seems 150 is the limit. Sure, 150 people is a lot, but 150 seems like an arbitrary number, and not a very high one at that. Is it a limit because contact lists are stored on Microsoft servers, and they didn't want to have storage costs get out of control? Regardless, I don't feel 150 is enough - the limit should be 500 or even 999. Anyone else run into this limitation?
Next, the issue of Passport accounts. The email address I have on my Passport account is an old one that is largely de-comissioned, so I wanted to update it to something more logical: [email][email protected][/email]. I happily logged into the Passport server, updated the email address associated with my passport ID, and then logged back into Messenger...only to see a blank contact list? WHAT? 8O I then changed my email address back to the old one on the Passport server, and all my contacts came back.
Now, I'm not expert on identity, but shouldn't the email address be an atribute of the digital identity that Passport represents, not the entire identity itself? Shouldn't the contact list be based on the Passport ID, not the email address? Email addresses can change over time, and unless I'm missing something (entirely possible), there doesn't appear to be a way to change your Passport email address without it destroying your Messenger contact list. Has anyone else found a way around this?
Upon counting, it seems 150 is the limit. Sure, 150 people is a lot, but 150 seems like an arbitrary number, and not a very high one at that. Is it a limit because contact lists are stored on Microsoft servers, and they didn't want to have storage costs get out of control? Regardless, I don't feel 150 is enough - the limit should be 500 or even 999. Anyone else run into this limitation?
Next, the issue of Passport accounts. The email address I have on my Passport account is an old one that is largely de-comissioned, so I wanted to update it to something more logical: [email][email protected][/email]. I happily logged into the Passport server, updated the email address associated with my passport ID, and then logged back into Messenger...only to see a blank contact list? WHAT? 8O I then changed my email address back to the old one on the Passport server, and all my contacts came back.
Now, I'm not expert on identity, but shouldn't the email address be an atribute of the digital identity that Passport represents, not the entire identity itself? Shouldn't the contact list be based on the Passport ID, not the email address? Email addresses can change over time, and unless I'm missing something (entirely possible), there doesn't appear to be a way to change your Passport email address without it destroying your Messenger contact list. Has anyone else found a way around this?
