Yahoo shut down public chat rooms and other services, any alternative?

Yahoo has shut down several of its Messenger services as announced on its blog officially. The popular Yahoo Messenger will keep working but users have been deprived of Public Chat Rooms, Ping box, Interoperability with Windows Live Messenger and Voice Phone In/Out.

Company says it has shut down these services so that it could refocus on core business for a better health.

Yahoo had announced the shut down and made public following instructions for its users;

Yahoo! Messenger Public Chat Rooms

The Yahoo! Messenger Public Chat Rooms have been closed down effective from December 14, 2012.

Yahoo! Messenger Pingbox

From December 14, 2012, Pingbox is no longer available on Yahoo! Messenger. If you’ve installed Pingbox on your blog or social networks, please click here to learn how to uninstall it.

Yahoo! Messenger interoperability with Microsoft Windows Live Messenger

Yahoo! Messenger is no longer interoperable with Microsoft Windows Live Messenger from December 14, 2012. Microsoft buddies will still appear on your Messenger contact list, but they will be greyed out, and if you try to send instant messages to them, the messages will not be delivered.

Yahoo! Voice Phone In and Phone Out feature

Effective January 30, 2013, we will no longer offer Yahoo! Voice Phone In and Phone Out capabilities, our co-branded landline and mobile phone service from Jajah. As of today, users can no longer add new funds to their accounts, and active users who currently have a balance in their accounts will receive emailed instructions in December from Jajah on how to request a refund. You can find more information on how to ask for a refund here, and you can contact Jajah with any questions at mailto:yahoovoice@jajah.com. Free Messenger-to-Messenger calls will still be offered through Yahoo! Messenger.

All over the world Yahoo users have shown disappointment over the closure of services but majority of them have called it a timely decision as the service was being abused by various spammers who had made life miserable for regular users on internet.

If you are very much addicted to public chat rooms, paltalk may be an alternative

Wateen Telecom participated in conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Acceleration Program

 The two day conference was started on December 17, 2012 focusing on ‘Role of Quality Universities in Supporting Entrepreneurial Eco-System’.

Naeem Zamindar represented Wateen Telecom at the event and moderated discussion. Commenting on the BAP conference, Mr Zamindar said, “It was a great honour for me to represent Wateen at this incredible event. It is fantastic to see that opportunities for entrepreneurs are growing in Pakistan and we are collectively working towards enabling a new era of economic and social development in the country. SME empowerment, structural reforms, good-governance and HR training can help reinvigorate the national economy and the SME sector rapidly”.

SME  Business Support Fund (BSF) is a “Not for Profit Company” established by the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan to assist both the SMEs and the Business Development Services Providers (BDSPs). Focusing on issues pertinent to entrepreneurship and development of the small scale businesses, this event was specifically targeted at gathering individuals from the government, members of the business community, NGOs, academia, agencies supporting small businesses, entrepreneurs, financial institutions and other international development agencies.

Amongst the dignitaries attending the event were Mr Azhar Rizvi Voice Chair MITEFP, Mr. Adul Aziz CEO LumenSoft, Mr. Monis Rehman CEO Naseeb networks and Mr. Salim Ghauri CEO Netsol Technologies, in addition to a number of state officials. Numbers of foreign dignitaries were also present at the conference.