MSN messenger service stumbles, loses buddies

By Richard Stenger
CNN

(CNN) -- Users across the world of the Microsoft messenger service have weathered trouble this week with sporadic connections and disappearing buddy lists.

Microsoft said Thursday that the company was still searching for the cause of the MSN Messenger Service glitches and how to correct them.

Members of MSN, or the Microsoft Network, began reporting frequent interruptions in their instant messaging service on Tuesday. The outages affected users in the United States, Canada, Britain and other countries, according to Microsoft.

"The specific problem that I have experienced is loss of connectivity for long periods," said Canadian Brian Sullivan. "I have been functioning off and on (currently off) over the last 24 hours."

Sullivan considers himself somewhat fortunate. Unlike many MSN members, he still had access to his contact list, or personalized directory of other MSN messenger users.

Many users, posting a flurry of complaints on Internet newsgroups, said that when they managed to sign onto the service, their buddy lists had disappeared.

How long the vanishing act will continue remains unknown, according to Microsoft.

"We're not sure how long it will take to retrieve the lists but they are retrievable," said Michelle Simpson, a spokesperson for the Redmond, Washington-based software giant.

Simpson dismissed speculation that the problem originated in Passport, a sign-on service that allows users with one name and password to access MSN Web sites, which consist of various sites operated by Microsoft or its affiliates.

"Right now, (the problem) seems to be with the server and not Passport." Microsoft became aware of the problem Wednesday and was working to resolve it, she said.

Microsoft's messenger service had 18.4 million users as of May, second only to AOL's Instant Messenger application, which had 25.5 million, according to Jupiter Media Metrix.

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