Microsoft Struggles to Fix IM Glitch

Baldwin Louie — Sun, 08 Jul 2001 15:00:00 -0700

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) is struggling to fix a three-day outage of its instant messaging service that has affected up to 10 million users of the product, a key component of the software giant's strategy to offer new Web-based services.

Up to a third of Microsoft's 30 million worldwide MSN Messenger users were unable to access the service or their "buddy lists,'' a register of friends who also use the system, Microsoft said.

Users first reported problems with the service, which allows users to send short text messages to each other over the Internet in real time, on Wednesday.

In what MSN Vice President Richard Bray described as an ''extremely rare set of circumstances,'' the outage was caused by the failure of a disk controller in one of the database computers the service is based on.

A glitch also struck a backup for the controller, and Microsoft was forced to restart all of the MSN Messenger server computers on Thursday, Bray said in a statement.

"We expect to fully restore service sometime later today. Until then, some customers may continue to experience an inability to log into MSN Messenger,'' Bray said.

The "buddy lists'' were not lost but only unavailable and would reappear when service is restored, Bray said.

The outage was the most severe of its kind since January, when a technician's error cut off access to parts of Microsoft's Internet offerings like its Hotmail free e-mail service and Web sites like MSN.com.

Microsoft shares fell $2.45 Friday to close at $66.06 in Nasdaq trading amid a broad sell-off in technology stocks on Friday.

A Hole in .Net?

The problem is an embarrassment for the world's biggest software company as it pushes its .NET strategy to develop a new breed of fee-based services, some of which will rely on instant messaging.

"The issue here, of course, is that it's a communication product, and there is a very low tolerance of communication products breaking. It destroys the trust in the product,'' said Rob Enderle, an analyst with technology consultancy Giga Information Group.

"Of all the things that could happen to the offering, this is the worst. Not only is it down, but they can't seem to explain why,'' Enderle said.

The first .NET project, called HailStorm, aims to build notification and e-commerce services around instant messaging and a sort of virtual wallet product called Passport.

For instance, online auction house eBay Inc. (EBAY.O) plans to use instant messages to tell customers when they have been outbid. Financial services giant American Express Co. (AXP.N) wants to use instant messaging to deliver alerts about possible credit card fraud.

"Communications is a key part of .NET and, if communications fails, then .NET has difficulties,'' Enderle said.

Shooting the Messenger

Microsoft is also making instant messaging a major part of Windows XP, the upcoming version of its personal computer operating system.

Windows XP will contain a new message product called Windows Messenger that will include the ability to start a video chat and collaborate on documents.

It ups the ante in Microsoft's battle against Internet and media giant AOL Time Warner Inc. (AOL.N), which dominates instant messaging, one of the fastest-growing applications on the Web.

AOL claims 100 million registered users of its instant messaging software.

Because instant messaging software is relatively easy to download and install, continued problems with Microsoft's product could drive users to rival systems from AOL and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO.O), Enderle said.

"If it goes on much longer, they could very well kill the instant messaging initiative because people will remember this. It's relatively easy to switch, to move to Yahoo, AOL or ICQ,'' Enderle said.

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Microsoft Struggles to Fix IM Glitch