As part of Windows Live Wave 2 there are a huge amount of Windows Live beta products being released this week. For the first time we have seen in years Microsoft actually set a release date, scheduled for the 7th of November for Windows Live Messenger. However, mess.be have managed to get their hands on the build a day early, marking the new version of Windows Live Messenger 2008 (build 8.5.1302.1018).

So what are the changes? Well, err, hum, ahhh, I don't know. Bug fixes seem to be part of the update and with no word on the development blog I'm confused if this release is actually different. I'm finding a lot of issues still present (does anyone find the sounds are way too loud?) and the design has not been perfected yet.

I'm going to be harsh here, but this is the worse release of Messenger I have had experience of. No new features, more bloat and a general lack of improvement all add up to a poor release. The installer also has issues (I didn't click agree or navigate anything). Who is the project manager?

Messenger Plus! Live works perfectly with the new build but I'm not sure current 8.5 skins will work (some may, some may not, I will confirm later).

View screenshots of the update
Download Windows Live Messenger 8.5.1302.1018
Download A-Patch for the new build
Source: mess.be