Today, MSN Messenger informed me that a newer version is available for download. It pops a neat little window that asks me if I want to download and install it. I said "yes" and it did a very good job of downloading, installing and restarting itself. You can't blame them for that: they really know how to make their software, and their installation, user friendly.
What really pisses me off is that the friendly little window has a "What's New" button that opens up this page. I clicked on that "What's New" button because I would like to know what it is I'm installing. Messenger has this nasty habit of having features I really don't want and can't disable, so I would like to know in advance what it is I will be stuck with.
So I clicked that button expecting to be shown a page that lists the new features and bug fixes between my current version and the new one. You know, like every other software out there. Instead, you are taken to that marketing page telling you how great MSN Messenger is and how many fun things you can do with it, but no details on what they are installing. And I looked, too! I clicked on just about every link on that page and nowhere could I find any kind of description of what is new.
That leads me very quickly to believe that they don't want me to know what's new. Otherwise, the information would be readily available, no? So either they fixed some very embarrassing bugs that they don't want people to know about or they just installed some more spyware on my box that they don't want people to know about.
I'm sure the update is quite benign and safe, but if it is why hide it? The end result is that they make me lose a little more faith in their product...
