Originally started as a personal project of its creator Cyril Paciullo (known as Patchou), Messenger Plus! has many lovers around the world. Truly, a vivid community has developed around it, where people meet to talk about the software, develop scripts for more features, as well as skins for changing Messenger’s visual appeal. I’m sure that you have tried out the one or another script or skin, too. For a program such as Messenger Plus!, its community is an important part.

The role of Yuna Software

With Cyril having invested years of his life into the development of the add-on, some months ago he felt that it was about time to involve more people. This would give him more freedom and allow the software to meet the requirements better that are set by a user base of 62 million users. By that time, Cyril made the company official that he had founded years ago, Yuna Software. That also meant investors came in who currently have the majority of the share in the company.

Sadly, in recent times things start to go wrong with Messenger Plus!. Yuna Software was keeping silent about everything they did. They set up their offices silently. They talked with sponsors silently. They published new Plus! versions, you guessed it, silently. Eventually, everybody within the community became suspicious about this silence. They tried to introduce a community manager, but it is not proved yet if the manager will be able to break the silence that Yuna Software is holding.

The effects that this development might have on Messenger Plus as well as on the community are immense, as Yuna Software does not seem to care much about the user base. In the worst case, Plus! will become so ad-bloated and uninteresting that it will lose most of its users. Users like you.

There is a way

What can we do to help that Messenger Plus! stays what it is? Messenger Plus!’s original creator, Cyril Paciullo, tells us:

What could such a mail contain? Here are some ideas for you.

• Tell Yuna Software why you are using Messenger Plus!
• Why did you originally use it?
• Has Messenger Plus! become better over time? How so?
• How did you learn about the software? From a friend?
• How would you feel if there were no scripts nor skins anymore?
• Would you like advertisements integrated into Messenger Plus?
• Send your personal message to support@yunasoftware.com.
• (If you want, send me a copy [CC to yuna@mynetx.net] that I can archive, but that’s up to you.)

Remember: This is not a call to request new features for Messenger Plus!, but a call to convince Yuna Software that listening and communicating its community — thus breaking the silence, permanently — is as important as setting up development roadmaps.

You are part of what makes Messenger Plus! successful.
It is up to you what its future is going to be like.

The days of MSN Messenger painted a vibrant community of designers who were keen to hack into the program's resources and create some polished, unique and excellent skins. When I joined the community back in February 2005 there was an vast array of high quality and imaginative skin designs to choose from, but today with Windows Live Messenger 2009, the community seems to have become stagnant.

Wait a minute, but surely skinning now has more depth and a smaller learning curve thanks to Messenger Plus! Live? While this is true the issue today is the end a thriving community to extrapolate anything from the available modern resources.


Looking back to MSN Messenger 7.5

For me MSN Messenger was the golden era of skin development. Granted there were significantly fewer releases, it is difficult to argue the quality of most end products were nothing short of spectacular. One could argue MSN Messenger was unattractive and users wanted something different, encouraging skinners? I disagree, looking at designs of the past there was just a different caliber of designer.



Pictured above: A small selection of excellent MSN Messenger skins

Back then skinning was more complicated. All resources were individually modified, there were custom installers created and many tutorials were constructed on editing individual build's UIFiles. The talent out there was uncanny. Names such as Terill, the unknown, ipab, Stian, Matti and Rolando may not ring any bells for some, but these individuals were the core of the community. I apologise if I left anyone from that list, including Willz (but your relevance lasts until today).


The issues with Windows Live Messenger

Perhaps the turning point was when the first builds of Windows Live Messenger leaked. The new UI system of .rle files meant skinning images became impossible. For months there were several solutions being developed to allow images to be successfully edited again. In this time many skinners, including myself moved onto other projects. The prospect of designing skins seemed too much effort. Many of the skinners listed above never created anything for Windows Live Messenger. The dedicated forums to Messenger skinning went down.


With Windows Live Messenger came a significant hurdle for skin developers

There is a further argument that with Windows Live Messenger's new UI, the program became attractive enough not to encourage users to seek skins. I no long use skins as I'm perfectly satisfied with the current default design. I however, expect fall into the minority of users.


Are skins still popular?

Messenger Plus! Live has done much to revive the skinning community, allowing a new generation of designers to take the baton before it was dropped. Nevertheless its forums have become rather lifeless in recent months and skins for Windows Live Messenger 2009 have been few and far between. The Messenger Plus! Community has been commenting on the situation:




Willz, a monopoly developer of the current skins has stated:



MenthiX, moderator of the Messenger Plus! Skins database commented:




Messenger Plus! Live has created more resources for skinners, including shaping of windows


To conclude

Currently Messenger skinning is in decline. There are fewer developers and many (not all) of the ones present lack the eye for good UI design. The once glory days of the MSN Messenger era appear to be over, but hopefully with Windows Live Messenger 2010 and a more open skinning platform there will be some talented individuals attracted to the application. Thus in answer to the original question, no skinning is not dead and skins are still popular, however the current health of the community has left current developments on the whole rather motionless.