Filed under: Internet, Windows, Microsoft, Beta
Live Messenger 2009 Beta Looking Good
by Lee Mathews Sep 23rd 2008 at 10:00AM
Yes, it's the same horrid installer. It has obviously undergone some changes, though, and isn't quite as bad as the previous version. My apps downloaded and installed on the first try, a stark contrast to my numerous failures with the last Live Installer.
Live Messenger's UI has received a lot of attention, including a much improved chat window. Display pictures and the chat toolbar slide in and out of view, and the conversation styling is clean and readable. I'd like to see tabbed conversation windows, but there's still no sign of that.
Photo sharing is much improved. Drag and drop pictures into the conversation, and your window splits: photos above, chat below. Viewing is synchronized, so when the viewer switches picture it updates on your view as well. It's extremely helpful when sharing and explaining screenshots or design ideas.Video calling has been tweaked, and the quality is now very good. I'm not sure I'd quite agree with the Messenger Team's claim of it feeling like I'm "watching TV," but that may be a shortcoming with my ISP more than the program itself. Regardless, it's much better than previous versions and is comparable to Skype in my testing.
The What's New Feed helps you easily keep tabs on your contacts, and passes you updates on their Live activities: blog posts and comments, photo uploads, display updates, you name it. It's a very convenient way to see your updates without having to keep a ton of tabs open, but its usefulness to me is limited right now: none of my contacts use Live services. I'd wager that we'll see more functionality in this feature before long, like Twitter or Facebook support.
Performance is good, and memory usage was kept below 25mb on my Vista machine. Overall, I'm impressed with the beta and hope that Microsoft keeps things rolling with Messenger's development.
Read more about the new version at the Messenger Live Team Blog, and you can grab the download at FileHippo.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Khuffie said 10:51AM on 9-23-2008
To be honest, I find the chat window to have taken a step back. The gradient border at the top just seems to grab your attention from the actual conversation taking place (not to mention how big it is). The borders to the right and left of the chat are at least twice the size they should be. Also, I'm not quite sure I like the regular window frame the chat window and the display list have; it just looks out of place and ruins the rest of the design. Messenger 8 had it's own minimal window UI which looked far, far better. Also, in the buddy list, the font size for the group titles is far too huge.
All in all, it seems like a lot of the UI elements have merely become 'bigger', when one wants to focus on the actual content area, which has become smaller.
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Lee Mathews said 11:04AM on 9-23-2008
It's easy enough to minimize those elements...two clicks, so it's hard for me to complain about that.
I'd agree by default that it is a bit "clunky" on a small screen. On my 22" desktop monitor, though, it looks great.
William C Bonner said 11:23AM on 9-23-2008
You mention memory usage below 25MB. How does that compare to the non-beta version of windows messenger?
Does that mean that it's a reasonably low number when no current chats are taking place?
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bliks said 10:52AM on 9-24-2008
I just checked my msn and with it running in the background its 42 megs of memory.
john lennon said 11:18AM on 9-23-2008
It looks nice,but what is up with the "open email" button?
It keeps going to MSN Today and you have to enter your password everytime.
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Jash Sayani said 11:21AM on 9-23-2008
Any major feature updates except the GUI ?
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Dagur said 2:16PM on 9-23-2008
Why does it not have tabs? >_
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Matias Korhonen said 12:51PM on 9-23-2008
Will still continue to use Pidgin. Memory usage at 25MB when logged into Google Talk, MSN, AIM, Bonjour and Yahoo Messenger. Supports encryption, supports plugins, and is cross platform compatible.
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Marco said 10:33PM on 9-23-2008
... but no voice nor cam support. If one needs it, WLM is a must-have.
idodialog said 11:48AM on 9-24-2008
Really who is designing this kid's room stuff for MS. Clunky huge elements, baby blue with endless gradients - gawd. I'm a mature adult not a six year old. I IM for business and pleasure and just one look tells me right away not even to bother.
Yeah I know some of the functionality is probably superior but I like the way Digsby brings a lot of my messaging/email tasks together in a very effective and compact way.
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Mallory said 12:11PM on 9-24-2008
Who knows, maybe Microsoft is looking to target teenaged users ...?
Then again, it is just a Beta ... Anything could change.
DocWalt said 1:16PM on 9-25-2008
And custom smileys don't show up. Sorta kills the point of them being there when you can't seem them, all you see is the text you type to get them, other people can see them fine.
I hate that they swapped the sides the Display Pics (DP) are on, not to mention, why the hell are they so damn huge? There's a ton of wasted space between them, why? They could have easily moved your DP up and then extended the chat window, or at least integrated your DP a bit better, like 8 was.
The main window is full of fail. They added that dumb "What's New" or whatever at the bottom, that uses a ton of space, and they changed it so family is before friends, which is annoying. I can see about 5 of my friends online, out of the normal 20 or so online, mostly because of all the wasted space, out of proportion text, and just poor design choices. I'm gonna roll back to 8.0 for now.
Summary: very bad design choices, no version continuity, and beyond abysmal waste of space.
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Lee Mathews said 2:25PM on 9-25-2008
Perhaps my words were poorly chosen...Does it not at least look slightly better than the old version? No version of Messenger yet has been "beautiful."
Eirik said 7:08PM on 9-25-2008
The design is rubbish. Straight out. If you ask any mediocre-skilled designer, they will say this is made by a total amateur. It's weird considering how huge this is. I hope they change it :/
gah, some new functions are good but the design..
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Steve Mc said 6:12AM on 11-07-2008
Am I the only person who was always happy to display my contacts by their e-mail addresses?
Now I don't have that option, and the way some people swap around their display names I'm never quite sure who's online.
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beza said 2:14PM on 11-09-2008
i think its rarly nice exept no sound in vidcalls and no sound in the record clip tab aswell im just wondering if any1 else is having the same problems . all the other versions of messenger work fine with the sound just wondering if its a bug they need to fix ?, and it doesnt take you strait to your inbox when you click the mail tab.
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John said 1:58AM on 11-23-2008
"Signing in to Windows Live Messenger Beta failed because the service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later." "Error Code: 84cb000A"
Signed in first time after install successfully, get this ever since...
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joe said 12:45PM on 12-19-2008
i like the way i can choose a sound for my contacts, even my own. the only thing really bothering me about the images (emoticons), i cant see them only the people im writing to. and something about the webcam the tab "show my webcam" , sometimes it shows, sometimes it doesnt only the video call and i hate that. and sometimes it wont let u sign in telling u to download the old version because messenger beta is having problem. to fix it i just restart my computer and it works again.
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