Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview is live

Filed under: Design, Developer, Fun, Internet, Web services, Microsoft, Yahoo!, P2P, Beta

Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview is live

by Chris Gilmer Dec 6th 2007

We broke the news the beginning of this year that Yahoo! was busy preparing a complete rebuild of Messenger made exclusively for Windows Vista users. The ground up rebuild has taken quite a long time (11 months), but it's finally here.

Yahoo! Messenger for Vista is officially available as a preview download starting today. There are some important features that are missing in this build, but the significant additions might make up for the lack of features. The changes in Yahoo! Messenger include a complete change of layout, skin chooser, filter-as-you-type for easy searching, spell checker and a convenient tabbed conversation window that controls your desktop clutter. The rebuild also incorporates sidebar graphics that have the ability to show favorite contacts separated from conversation windows. Graphical elements in the new IM take Microsoft's graphic subsystem into play for vector based interfaces and enhanced emoticons. IM's can now be conveniently sent to both Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts, complete with up to 2GB worth of files.

There are a few features that have been left out of this build that are scheduled for a later date. They are big ones that people do expect to have, be it a beta build or any release and include voice, webcam, chat rooms, text messaging to mobile devices, photo sharing and conferencing. To grab a copy of the new Yahoo! Messenger for Vista preview release, visit http://messenger.yahoo.com/windowsvista.php We will have more on this application as we put it through the DLS wringer.

Check out some screenshots of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview in the gallery.

Gallery: Yahoo! Messenger for Vista

Tags: im, layout, messenger, microsoft, msn, skin, tabs, vista, windows

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12in_of_Snow said 12:18AM on 12-06-2007

Are us XP users going to be able to also use this new version of Yahoo Messenger as long as our computer is capable of handing the graphics and processing it? If not, do you think someone will probably make some skins or something so XP users can also use it? I know that I have seen a variety of times, people making skins and stuff for XP users who just want the graphics but don't want to downgrade to Vista.

Jon Rick said 2:24AM on 12-06-2007

If you read the post it states: "exclusively for Windows Vista users"

So your answer is no. Either UPGRADE or get left behind.

Clearly you read some "trendy" person calling Vista a downgrade and thought it was funny. Guess what? It's played out. You're not "hip" by spewing the same crap as someone else.

There is nothing wrong with Vista. Sure a lot of old hardware doesn't support Vista, but don't forget the keyword... "OLD".

Everyone bitches that it takes up to much ram... Well, what else am I going to use my 4 gigs of ram for? It needs a good video card to display Aero... cool, I'm glad I bought the high end Nivdia card.

I'm glad there is finally an OS that takes advantage of the hardware that I own.

diggy said 12:37AM on 12-06-2007

No message archive for now

Shyam said 3:09AM on 12-06-2007

Actually I downloaded this version around a week ago. I searched for "ymsgr" in FindFiles, and found a version 9-something. And I told myself, I was not aware of the current happenings - missing the new version of Yahoo Messenger.

So I have been an early bird, getting the Yahoo Messenger.

Alex said 4:56AM on 12-06-2007

And of course, it doesn't work in Vista 64 bit :(

Julian Bond said 6:53AM on 12-06-2007

I'm very curious about usage numbers for the IM+Voice+Video+GroupChat+SMS+POTS interconnect market. It feels like Skype is overhauling the other players both in total users, active users and currently online users. Not to mention feature set. The one feature Skype doesn't and perhaps can't match is a web only client. But meanwhile the IM market is showing signs of consolidation as more and more interop deals get done. What's surprising is just how slow the development timescales are for all the other IM systems. It seems like MS, YM, AIM, GTalk, iChat have release schedules measured in years where Skype's is in months or weeks.

I suppose this is news, but what is the point of a Vista only client beta that has so much missing functionality?

lunamoo said 9:21AM on 12-06-2007

gyahahaha...

I bet what u've downloaded was YMsgr 9 beta..

YMsgr for Vista is available to download and actually it starting today.

So, an early bird, you better get the new YM r8 now!

^^ peace

tacoman667 said 9:44AM on 12-06-2007

The login will not take my Y! login/password saying it is invalid. I open a browser window and log in no problem. I even switched settings to work with and without proxy and HTTP. Nothing seems to work. Anyone having this issue?

Adam said 9:55AM on 12-06-2007

Hmm, so let me get this straight, has it really taken them 11 months to implement a new GUI? Or have they actually introduced some new features. YIM is always came across as a very immature design to me and that's why I've never used it. More suited for 14 year old girls, in my opinion.

Adam @ http://www.talkphp.com/

CoffeeDaze said 10:43AM on 12-06-2007

After testing this out for a few hours it looks like it is mainly a GUI change and a sluggish one at that. The soon to release Trillian Astra has all these features (and much more), a stronger UI, faster interface, and multi OS interface. If they can publicize it more than they have in the past it would be a huge contender to anything like this Yahoo bit.

Arun Sarma said 1:19AM on 12-07-2007

Downloaded it yesterday..
1. Looks kewl.
2. The Input textfield in the IM window is slow on my 1GIG machine.
3. New look emoticons rock! I wish there was more (newer emotes)
4. I didnt have much time with it..and.. couldnt really figure out where to change my font style.

mgthantzin said 7:07AM on 12-07-2007

Yahoo! Messenger is unable to download files needed for installation. Please check firewall settings and retry installation.

I have already disabled my BD firewall. geez!

Jim said 9:47AM on 12-25-2007

Having similar logon issues. Yahoo messy for vista beta fresh install, onto my vista premium notebook, will not accept my yahoo username/password. Definately a beta product if my normal yahoo password works with version 8. I don't know if it's a step up, unless the dumb thing lets me in!

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