OK, so with Yahoo’s upcoming Messenger 7.5, the company that has an appetite in buying every company under the sun (they just bought del.icio.us, even though they already have their own social bookmarking service……whuh?) is now actually trying to compete with someone other than Google: Skype, the thrilla from Scandinavia that has claimed over 3 million casualties worldwide (OMG, and a video to testify to the mayhem! I’ll show it to you all as soon as I can find the URL). Unfortunately, neither Skype nor the present VoYM can work for me under these conditions, as both I and androgynism found out on Friday.

What exactly to expect from Messenger 7.5?

1. Interoperability with MSN/Windows Live Messenger

2. Net2Phone: the (supposed) Skype-killer.

And probably not much else.

My question is: why doesn’t Yahoo do something really groundbreaking, like become a cell phone provider in order to make as equal of a use of Messenger on Mobile as there is of Messenger on PC?

I mean, its not like they can’t do it, since VoIP is already enabled through Messenger-PC’s PC-to-PC calling feature (and even more so with the upcoming Net2Phone). Plus, as part of the Mobile part of Yahoo’s tripartate “Yahoo Go” initiative, Yahoo Messenger will allow for the recording of voice messages (whether that goes over Yahoo itself, as in Phone-to-PC, or over the old fashioned PSTN, I have yet to find out).

Because think about the logic behind this: why exactly would I want to send typed IMs over the phone except for that the person on the other end only has a PC to use Yahoo with? How many of you all who type IMs/SMS on your cell phone (especially you, hypertwolf) are tired of having to sort through every number button just to get to the right letter whenever you want to get a single sentence in edgewise?

It just doesn’t make sense, people. IM’s are for PC’s, VoIP is for the phone, to be simplistic about it.

It’s just like the telegraph (Samuel Morse) in comparison to the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell): the former was good and valuable when it came about, then the latter came out and fulfilled a need that was apparently not being filled by the former. The two coexisted and developed themselves as the prime means of P2P communication for over a century and a quarter, finding their markets and making things easier for their users, until the telegraph was replaced by facsimile (or “fax”) and, later, email and hypertext. Just last Sunday, Western Union, the main US carrier of telegrams for over 155 years, officially laid that service to rest.

Currently, the telephone (and everything that you have ever associated it with) is about to be phased out in a similar way. Phone numbers no longer have the same appeal as they did back in the day: my Mom, aged 55, is being plagued constantly with calls from telemarketers, at least 10 a day on average (and growing).

Where do they all aim for? Her house phone.

Just recently, prior to being dumped by Cingular, she received her first instances of cell phone telemarketeering.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve seen enough of the phone line for this last century. I think we’ve seen enough of the phone monopolies. I think we’ve heard enough from automated telemarketers. And I think that it is about time for us to KILL THE PHONE NUMBER.

I’m serious. Just get rid of the filthy thing already. It was both good and necessary back in my Mother’s earlier lifetime; now it is the *exact opposite*.

It has served its time, and now it has gotsta Go.

I look forward to Yahoo bringing the pain to Verizon and their like in the near future.