Can anyone confirm whether or not you have to have a user added to
your contacts list in messenger in order for you to see their
presence information in SharePoint Portal or WSS sites?

The users we are testing with have Office 2003, have Messenger 4.6 or
higher installed and have valid accounts with Exchange Instant
Messaging Service.

However, users' online presence information does not appear accurate
unless the user is added to my messenger contact list.

Also, there is inconsistency when the members list is viewed from
within Office 2003 (Word for example) and in the WSS site containing
the document. Some members show online in Word, but have no presence
indicator in the WSS site.

I've been able to find documentation about what the minimum
requirements are for presence, but none around the intended behavior.

Can anyone either point me to this information or help explain these
inconsistencies?