Last week, I was greeting by a message from Windows Messenger that there was a 5.0 upgrade available. After accepting the upgrade, I noticed it was installing MSN Messenger, NOT a new version of Windows Messenger so I cancelled it immediately.

Today, I noticed that both Scott and John (and Scott again) have had some conversations on the differences between the versions, as well as uninstalling Windows Messeneger.

From the FAQ:
Windows Messenger is what is bundled in Windows XP. It is needed for Windows XP to integrate Outlook, Outlook Express, and Remote Assistance with Messenger. Windows Messenger can also be used to talk with the Exchange Communications Service and Exchange Instant Messaging in corporate environments.
MSN Messenger is what was used for other versions of Windows. After the anti-trust ruling, Microsoft released it for XP (according to reports on google). It does have some new features such as UPnP NAT file transfer that Windows Messenger does not.

Most of the people on the microsoft.public.windowsxp.messenger newsgroup are recommending NOT to install the MSN 5.0 upgrade if you you use Windows XP and wait for a new version of Windows Messenger.

If you ask me, this whole thing is bloody confusing.