MSN Messenger needs flexible presence control

So Chris Jones of the Windows Live Team actually responds to blog comments? I blogged about the Windows Live Installer yesterday so I figure I’d open this long-time-gripe with MSN Messenger, though I know its currently impossible to solve, because I can see its use for both business and a 12 year old girl.

Business:

Over the years my buddy list has grown, significantly, and I just need to get some control over it because I do not want to be bothered 24/7. Some folks are business contacts, some folks are casual acquaintances, some folks are friends, some… well, I don’t know who they are.

Point being, I’m sure I’d like to hear from all of the above but at the time of my choosing. For example, I’d rather not talk to my friends between 10–4, and I’d rather not see a business/tech support request at 2 AM.

I would like a flexible status indicator so people in one group would see one status and people in another group would see a totally different status. For my friends, I hope they see me offline during business hours, and for my business partners I hope they see the same in after-close hours.

12 year old girl:

I want my BFFs in one group, cute guys in one group and everyone else in a loser group.

I want my BFFs to see me all the time, I don’t want cute guys to see me online on Friday nights, even if I am, and losers, well, if I ever want to talk to them, I will IM them when I feel like it.

I am not sure who the bigger user of MSN Messenger is but I sure could use this feature because as-is I am about to take a weed wacker to my Live Messenger list.