is there any plugin for yahoo msn etc messengers to do the same and charging on some minute basis?

:)

When some of note are owned by big branded companies who provide the messaging service for free, why would they offer a solution so some folks can charge for any type of usage on their nickel?

Why would anyone pay to chat, when they can chat for free, anyway? If it's the "phone chat" type thing, look for a paid solution. That's a whole nuther industry altogether, if you get my drift. If you don't get my drift, think again.

Since this thread was bumped, let me bump it again.

is there any plugin for yahoo msn etc messengers to do the same and charging on some minute basis?

Let me answer my own question on who would pay, if you'll bear with me.

Mind you, I'm not referring to you personally or anyone else in particular, but people who would pay would be assumed to be those using the service for "cybering." Why in the world would a mainstream company provide FREE plug-ins so that those in dark side industries can use their service for "cybering" by the minute?

If, rather, it's for tech support type messaging, neither would it make sense for them to provide plug-ins so that others can use them to run their business without any expenditure on the part of such businesses who would be profiting from the services, and without those mainstream service providers deriving any ad revenue.

They are not running charitable or government-type subsidies for private, profit making ventures.

Suggestion:

Anyone can use those services for free to communicate, but if they themselves are the ones chatting with clients, as would be the case with a consulting firm, they can run a timer using desktop software on their own box to bill their clients for their consulting time.

There's a big, big difference between owner-billed consulting services or support time and "cybering by the minute."

[edited by: Marcia at 9:52 am (utc) on May 2, 2007]

Thanks Marcia for your time

I am going to use it for providing paid consulting per minute basis , i have seen some of solutions available but they were charging some huge commission for the same (30-40%) , so i asked it

Have you visited Kas*m*a.com? (fill in) they are using the same but are having own billing mechanism like you suggeted , i am not high tech coder so asked it some type of system was available for guys like me

thanks for your time once again

b1, always, always do searches for "open source" <software or whatever> at the engines, no matter what the need. There are all kinds of open source apps available, so that's the first line of attack. I did a search on open source billing software at WebmasterWorld, and came up with this thread and many more:

[webmasterworld.com...]

In addition to software needs, it might also be worthwhile discussing business models for certain time-based services.

I used to work in accounting for personal, commercial and theatrical entertainment industry clients and performers, where billing was per month and by time - and that was before the internet, so records had to be kept manually. Records were kept and clients billed in quarter hour increments, and the same incremental billing can be done with online clients, though it's usually a good idea to institute a minimum, like a half or full hour, possibly on a minimum per session or per month basis.