Greetings,
Messenger loads display pictures "on demand". As such, if you open someone's conversation
window, it will grab the display picture. If they sign out and back in (thereby creating a
toast/alert), Messenger will grab the display picture. If you look at someone's contact
card, Messenger will grab the display picture.
But, if you've just logged in it does not grab the display pictures of everyone signed in
(obviously due to the bandwidth issues involved) -- it simply uses the cached versions of the
display pictures (where available) as Kristan has already mentioned.
So to answer your question directly, the "green man" simply means that either they don't have
a display picture or your client hasn't grabbed it yet and there is no cached version
available on your PC.
--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources -
http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2006 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.