The instant messaging battle that has erupted between AOL and Microsoft’s MSN service technically did not leave the United States.
According to Jill Schoolenberg, marketing manager for MSN.ca in Toronto, all non-U.S. versions of MSN Messenger were not updated in July to include the supposed interoperability with AOL’s instant messaging service that started the whole war.
The U.S. version of MSN Messenger — which, incidentally, Canadians can download just as easily as the Canadian version by going to msn.com instead of msn.ca — prompted AOL users to type in their AOL password. MSN then had record of AOL usernames and passwords, which caused AOL concern.