Goodbye, Messenger

A couple of days ago, Microsoft folded the MSN messenger service (or more correctly the Windows Live Messenger). The decision was made in November last year but I had already left a year ago when I started using a Mac. The world has moved on. But for at least eight years, that's a third of my life, I was on it everyday, even if it was just running in the background.

I had an account for all the "real" contacts and and a separate one for horny chats and hook-ups. On the naughty account I had profile pictures that were more revealing and I guess you could say attention seeking. When some guy came along on Gaydar that seemed hot (I already had a profile before I was legal) we would add each other on MSN and chat. Of course when I was a teenager it was mostly just chatting and swapping pics. But going into university I had a lot more freedom and the chance of these chats ending up in actual encounters increase exponentially.

It was still quite different before everyone was on Grindr though. Guys were more willing to chat, about everyday stuff. And you wouldn't expect the other person to agree to meet in the next ten minutes and block them if they didn't. I dug up the chat history files and I remembered what it was like. Half of the guys with a conversation history I didn't have a clue who they were anymore but the chats were amusing.

I was looking at this photo, wondering why the fuck we never shagged.

Then one of the chat histories reminded me who he was. He was an athlete and occasional sport presenter. He was a nice man. But I found out he was a lot older than when the photo was taken. That's cheating. I wasn't impressed. Anyway.

So this is the end of the MSN messenger era.