Yahoo Messenger added to Mail Beta

Filed under: Internet, E-mail, Web services, Yahoo!

Yahoo Messenger added to Mail Beta

by Brad Linder Feb 12th 2007

Yahoo! is rolling out an update to Yahoo! Mail Beta that combines Yahoo! Messenger with Yahoo! Mail. While this is a feature that Google's had for a while, I have to say, Yahoo!'s version looks pretty nice.

For example, when you start to write an email, the "To:" box will tell you if the contact you're writing to is online and available for chat. And if you've already started writing an email but have changed your mind and decided to initiate a chat, Yahoo! will automatically copy the text you've written into the chat window.

If you receive an instant message while you're working on an email or participating in a chat with someone else, a tab will pop up in the background, alerting you to an incoming message while letting you work in the current window. Ryan Kennedy of the Yahoo! Mail team has a screencast up demonstrating some of the new features.

Overall it looks pretty nifty. In general I've been pleased with Yahoo! Mail Beta. The interface feels much more like an application than a web page. But there's a price to pay. While the interface is definitely zippier now than when it first rolled out, it's still not as responsive as Gmail. Yahoo!'s in the process of rolling out the Messenger update and my account doesn't have the feature enabled yet, so I can't say whether it's as responsive in real life as it looks in Kennedy's screencast. If you've received the update let us know, and tell us about your experience with it.

Tags: chat, yahoo mail, yahoo messenger, YahooMail, YahooMessenger

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ryan Kennedy said 7:29AM on 2-13-2007

Thanks Brad! I did the screencast on my underpowered Centrino TabletPC (around a 1.5GHz if I remember correctly). The interface still looks that snappy with it running the screencast software (Camtasia) and Yahoo! Mail Beta, so I think you'll be pleased with the performance.

Ryan Kennedy
Yahoo! Mail

Hamman Samuel said 7:30AM on 2-13-2007

Copycats all around! Just because GMail has its messenger integrated into its email doesn't mean that Yahoo! can't come up with another yet-unthough-of-innovation. These things should be patented so that creativity isn't compromized.

BRYAN said 7:31AM on 2-13-2007

I have yahoo mail beta, and its not there yet. Maybe they are offering it in stages.

ToddZ said 11:25PM on 2-13-2007

"These things should be patented so that creativity isn't compromized."

That's the dumbest thing I've read all day... and I've been on the web for at least five hours.

Thanks, Yahoo, for another handy feature. Now, will you please update Calendar? Everyone except Hamman here would like to see it get a modernized look & feel.

James Gilabert said 5:39PM on 2-15-2007

Do you need to have Yahoo Messenger installed in your Computer in order to have this "update" from Yahoo Mail Beta? Today is 2/15 and I have yet to see the improvements done to the Mail Server.

Secondly, for those who have been able to get this Update is it only compatible with IE 6-7 or Firefox Web Browser as well?

Ryan Kennedy said 7:37AM on 2-16-2007

No, you don't need to install anything. When your account is upgraded (by us) you'll be all set. We're rolling this out slowly because mail has many more users than Messenger does, so we want to ramp up the traffic so we make sure that Messenger isn't crushed under the load of new users.

The feature works great in Firefox. The screencast I did was using Firefox 2.0.0.1.

Ryan Kennedy
Yahoo! Mail

Tim said 10:04AM on 3-05-2007

Ok well I have made my account moved to an account that gets the new functions really quickly!
And I have to tell you it is great!

Mohamud said 11:37AM on 3-08-2007

i interesed seeking your programming details

Ravi Rao said 11:23AM on 3-10-2007

THis new integration looks great.... How can i get that in my Yahoo Mail Beta? Or better say, how long will it take to be updated in my account?

hongvanqt said 7:37AM on 3-30-2007

Hello everyone!

SURESH said 8:16AM on 4-04-2007

i am not able to see yahoo messenger in yahoo mail beta .... please help me how can i add this into my yahoo account ...

SURESH said 8:18AM on 4-04-2007

how can i access messenger in yahoo mail

SURESH said 8:19AM on 4-04-2007

how can i access messenger in yahoo mail

netster007x said 2:21AM on 5-08-2007

Sounds like a lot of you want Yahoo! messenger in Yahoo! mail beta. Yahoo! is rolling out the update (very) slowly, in fact only two farms have it now. Luckily for you, this hack will let you get it RIGHT NOW, regardless of farm. Note: this hack even works for AT&T and other ISP users :)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Y-Mail/message/11192

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