When Windows Live Messenger 2009 launched officially in January, it showed the amount of effort the Messenger team put into polishing the client to make it cleaner, more stable and more user friendly. However, when compared to competitors in the market, it appears WLM is lagging far behind. About.com's annual awards failed to give anything to Microsoft's IM client: A sign of a more competitive market.

Best IM Client of the Year: Yahoo! Messenger 9.0
Best Third-Party IM Client: eBuddy
Best Mac IM: Yahoo! Messenger for Mac
Most Improved IM: Yahoo! Messenger 9.0
Best IM Feature: Brosix Whiteboard
Best Chat Rooms: Yahoo! Chat
Best Designed IM (GUI): Yahoo! Messenger 9.0
Developers of the Year: Brosix (D-Bross)

Clearly Yahoo! Messenger came out on top, with it picking up five of the total eight awards available. Although one can question the manner of which these awards were judged (it seems user input was essential), there is no doubt Microsoft's lack of representation within the list is a significant sign to the changing nature of IM and its users. There is a definite rise in 3rd party clients, such as Pidgin, which have been critically acclaimed and yet don't show on the list.

View the full list at About.com