As of Friday morning, there were no links on the main NineMSN home page warning of the impending shutdown of its open chat sessions, which is set to take place on October 14. Nor was there any information on the main 'people & chat' page of the service, which still featured links to chat services for romance and entertainment, amongst others. Only when users drilled down to the chat home page did a link to a page outlining the proposed closure appear.
The explanatory document itself emphasises a number of paid services which users can take advantage of once the free chat service has been eliminated. Some of Microsoft's overseas rivals have accused it of cloaking commercial concerns, such as the cost of monitoring online chats, by arguing that the shutdown is purely a safety measure.
NineMSN is certainly keen to sell value-added services to parents concerned by what their children may encounter online. Earlier this year, it launched NineMSN Premium, which charges AU$12.95 a month for a package that includes spam filtering and parental controls for instant messaging. The company is promoting its instant messaging software as one of the main communication alternatives once the chat service ceases, but the basic free client does not include parental control options.
there was by mid-afternoon, though!