At long last Microsoft has opened beta-testing of Windows Live Messenger, formerly known as MSN Messenger 8, to the public. The biggest new features are Sharing Folders, the fruits of Microsoft's acquistion of FolderShare, which aims to simplify sharing photos and files with your contacts, and Windows Live Call, a pre-paid service that lets you call regular phones, a la SkypeOut, via Verizon. Also new is a simplified interface, integrated MSN Video (I'm still not sure who wants this), and a semi-customizable GUI. To get in on the beta you'll have to have a (free) Passport account, natch.
[Via TechCrunch]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-09-2006 @ 6:44AM
J.T. Mill said...
That GUI looks like it ate MS Office and then jumped in a vat of yellow paint. Hasn't Microsoft leanred from Applet yet that less is more? Two thumbs down, I'll stick with Gaim thanks.
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5-09-2006 @ 6:52AM
Develman said...
Does Microsoft think that people will use this Messenger abundantly?
ICQ will retain the power of Internet messaging.
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5-09-2006 @ 8:18AM
William C Bonner said...
I upgraded to the beta of Live Messenger about two weeks ago. Supposedly I've had "invitations" that I could send to my friends for that time. The funny thing is that for me, it seemed like a downgrade. I had become accustomed to seeing mini thumbnails of my contacts current image in the online / offline contact list. Now it's reverted to the generic avatar. I'm hoping that the thumbnails will come back with a future upgrade, but I'm not holding my breath.
Mine is set to a blue color instead of some yellow color, but that's obviously a personal preference setting. More of the screen seems to be taken up with ads or buttons that I'd rather not have displayed. Because of their wonderful skining technology, I can't put the top of the window at the top of my screen, since it has a hidden traditional title bar taking up space above the skined bar.
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5-09-2006 @ 10:36AM
Jared said...
I've been using versions of Live Messenger for a few months now, and one thing I hated about it was how crowded it felt compared to Google Talk. I did find a little patch program for Live Messenger called A-Patch which is found at http://apatch.ikhost.com/ which can be used to visually customize Messenger. The interface isn't very clear, but it makes it easy to get rid of a bunch of buttons and ads that were doing nothing but getting in the way.
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5-09-2006 @ 6:30PM
keith coutinho said...
it doesnt have to be crowded at all, I have all tabs turned off etc, only viewing the minimum, my little conversation boxes look nice and square with lot's of space.
All this with just turning off a couple of options (unchecking some boxes, turn off all toolbars...)
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7-19-2006 @ 8:06AM
ben said...
u can turn off buttons etc in ->extras -> options
my prob is, that my contat list shrunk to six (!) names... i don't know what happened... can somebody help?
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