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I would like to start this post by apologizing for not writing a single piece of news for over a month. The exams period took its tole, but now the summer is here I can once again focus on regular news updates. There has been various stories arising over the past month, so consider this a catch-up post to give you a brief overview of what you may have missed.
Messenger integrates with Kinect: Microsoft's E3 press conference last week demoed a highly polished and interesting way to communicate to your Messenger contacts - without a keyboard, mouse or even a controller. Microsoft's focus of the show, Kinect (previously known as Project Natal) is its motion sensing camera that is designed to transform how webcam chat will work over Xbox Live. The development team claim this is part of a wider transformation of its webcam system over to high-definition. [Read more]
Sharing your search results: Microsoft have further integrated its new search engine, Bing into Windows Live Messenger. You can now let your contacts know your search results, via an instant message or via a status update. [Read more]
BBC iPlayer integrates with Messenger: Yet more integration news. The BBC's flagship Internet streaming service has expanded to allow chatting to your Messenger friends from within your web browser, allowing you to watch TV and chat online simultaneously. In order to use the feature, you must enable the new beta interface.
The MessengerSays blog closes: The official Messenger development blog has come to an end, in favor of a non-specific Windows, which posts on a more regular basis. The MessengerSays blog will be missed, after coming to life at a similar time as MsgStuff. It has always been a more personal side to Messenger development. [Read more]
Webcam feature receives update: Mynetx has discovered the leaked build of Windows Live Messenger 2011 has been dynamically improved in terms of user-friendliness and quality. [Read more]
Public beta due Thursday? Rumors have stated that a public beta was due in June this year, but this week has seen several sources suggesting a public beta of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 is due tomorrow (Thurs 24th).
Messenger now has three specific contact list styles: Wave 4 has seen extensive social networking integration, with the social pane playing an important role in re-designing the contact list. Although the classic design can still be enabled, yesterday revealed the classic design can now hold two columns of contacts, while re-positing other features within the list:
Messenger integrates with Kinect: Microsoft's E3 press conference last week demoed a highly polished and interesting way to communicate to your Messenger contacts - without a keyboard, mouse or even a controller. Microsoft's focus of the show, Kinect (previously known as Project Natal) is its motion sensing camera that is designed to transform how webcam chat will work over Xbox Live. The development team claim this is part of a wider transformation of its webcam system over to high-definition. [Read more]
Sharing your search results: Microsoft have further integrated its new search engine, Bing into Windows Live Messenger. You can now let your contacts know your search results, via an instant message or via a status update. [Read more]
BBC iPlayer integrates with Messenger: Yet more integration news. The BBC's flagship Internet streaming service has expanded to allow chatting to your Messenger friends from within your web browser, allowing you to watch TV and chat online simultaneously. In order to use the feature, you must enable the new beta interface.
The MessengerSays blog closes: The official Messenger development blog has come to an end, in favor of a non-specific Windows, which posts on a more regular basis. The MessengerSays blog will be missed, after coming to life at a similar time as MsgStuff. It has always been a more personal side to Messenger development. [Read more]
Webcam feature receives update: Mynetx has discovered the leaked build of Windows Live Messenger 2011 has been dynamically improved in terms of user-friendliness and quality. [Read more]
Public beta due Thursday? Rumors have stated that a public beta was due in June this year, but this week has seen several sources suggesting a public beta of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 is due tomorrow (Thurs 24th).
Messenger now has three specific contact list styles: Wave 4 has seen extensive social networking integration, with the social pane playing an important role in re-designing the contact list. Although the classic design can still be enabled, yesterday revealed the classic design can now hold two columns of contacts, while re-positing other features within the list:
Time to update: Microsoft soon enforcing users to install latest Messenger
on Mon 31 Aug 2009 (18:27 GMT) (12778 views)
on Mon 31 Aug 2009 (18:27 GMT) (12778 views)
The phenomenon of Microsoft enforcing mandatory updates to MSN/ Windows Live Messenger are not uncommon. Although much of these are claimed to be "security" focused, there is the case that Microsoft rightly prefers users to be using the latest protocol their client can communicate with to avoid server issues. Still, for many users using older versions of Messenger, this is a pain as there is a significant amount of people choosing to use an older, outdated build. Below is a breakdown of the current schedule of mandatory upgrades coming within the next couple of months:
To conclude, this series will stop users normally being able to sign into Windows Live Messenger versions 8.1 and 8.5, while also making those who haven't updated to the second QFE patch to do so by the end of October.
Source: The MessengerSays blog
- August 25th: Message displayed to users using versions 8.1 and 8.5 to optionally upgrade
- Mid-September: Those using versions 8.1 or 8.5 will be locked out of the Messenger service and forced to upgrade
- Early-October: Users using an outdated version of Windows Live Messenger 2009 will receive the option to upgrade
- Late-October: Those using older versions of Windows Live Messenger 9 will be locked out of the Messenger service and forced to upgrade
To conclude, this series will stop users normally being able to sign into Windows Live Messenger versions 8.1 and 8.5, while also making those who haven't updated to the second QFE patch to do so by the end of October.
Source: The MessengerSays blogThis year marks the 10th anniversary of Windows Live Messenger, since it started its humble beginnings as MSN Messenger Service back in 1999. Since then the program has gained 330 million active users from all around the world, while delivering many features to make it one of the leading IM clients of today. To celebrate Microsoft is giving users free content packs, starting competitions and generating a general buzz all about Windows Live Messenger. Below is a round up of the story thus far.
Of course with it being early July we can expect a lot more things to come to light surrounding Messenger's "aluminum" anniversary this month. Hopefully the competitions will expand to other countries and the first details about Windows Live Messenger 2010 will start to surface. In the meantime keep subscribed to the MessengerSays blog as this has been their most active period for years.
- MessengerSays blog posts: The Messenger developer team's blog has attempted to generate stories about user's experiences with Messenger over the past decade. Here is a summary of their posts:
- Share your favorite personal Windows Live Messenger story with the world! (15/06/2009)
- The Countdown to the Windows Live Messenger 10th Anniversary begins (24/06/2009)
- Do you know one of these Messenger-etiquette offenders? How do YOU deal with them? (02/07/2009)
- Proposing via your Windows Live Messenger status message – The key to success! (07/07/2009)
- Competitions & prizes: I'm not entirely sure if this will be only applicable to the UK, but there appears to be a chance to win vouches at Play.com and download free content packs for Messenger itself. The page features a timeline of what's being going on in history throughout 10 years of Messenger. Check out 2006, where you can see one of our Messenger screenshots has been lifted onto the website!
Of course with it being early July we can expect a lot more things to come to light surrounding Messenger's "aluminum" anniversary this month. Hopefully the competitions will expand to other countries and the first details about Windows Live Messenger 2010 will start to surface. In the meantime keep subscribed to the MessengerSays blog as this has been their most active period for years.
As a blogger I know April Fools is a day made for weird and fake news stories all over the Internet. Even we join in, and every year we trick someone. The MessengerSays blog i.e. the official blog of the Messenger development team have also joined in this year, describing a feature known as "Automatic Mood Detection in Windows Live Messenger":
View the full post as the MessengerSays blog
Automatically determining a user's mood is something we've always heard as being important for Windows Live Messenger but knew that the technology was years away from being ready. In WLM 2009, we even took a nice first step introducing Dynamic Photos, which let you manually associate a photo with an emoticon/mood.
We're happy to announce that due to the great breakthroughs from Microsoft Research, we have an alpha version working that monitors your real-time physiological state and translates that into a mood (happy, sad, anxious, etc), such that you would never have to enter an emoticon again. At the core of this technology is the patented Human Attitude Heuristic Algorithm, which uses simple instruments, such as a body heat monitor, webcam and keypad pressure sensor to automatically determine your mood and appropriately insert emoticons/phrases directly into your IM conversations... saving you both time and energy.
View the full post as the MessengerSays blogA few months ago Windows Live Messenger 9 beta was released with tons and tons of new features. Beta testers have been hard at work filling bugs and feedback to the Messenger team. For a moment we all thought that our feedback was being ignored, however today marked a special day for Windows Live as a whole.
Lonn, a program manager for Windows Live Messenger, released a short video over at the MessengerSays blog. The Messenger build that was used in the video is a newer version that has some new features that we will see in the next release. Looking through the video, I've outlined a few of the changes we will see:
There is a lot more changes coming our way in the next refresh, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you guys. Subscribe to our RSS feed for the latest information regarding the new version of Windows Live Messenger.
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:c1b27998-9f2a-4795-8f87-c034ca04a963&showPlaylist=true&from=shared" target="_new" title="Windows Live Messenger">Video: Windows Live Messenger</a>
Lonn, a program manager for Windows Live Messenger, released a short video over at the MessengerSays blog. The Messenger build that was used in the video is a newer version that has some new features that we will see in the next release. Looking through the video, I've outlined a few of the changes we will see:
- The sign-in window has a totally new look. Simplistic and features a nice "Welcome Back" message.
- Post a note is now enabled, along with the ability to sort through your contacts' updates.
- The PhotoShare application is finally able to save your pictures that your contact shares with you (huge thank you to the team for that). Now lets rally for a zoom feature ;)
- Your contact's status is now shown in text next to their name on your contact list.
- The layout options have been increased due to the high amount of feedback from the beta testers. We now have the ability to:
- Sort your categories alphabetically or by status
- Show your offline contacts in your categories instead of a separate "Offline" category, or show them in a separate category if you want
- Show your offline SMS contacts in their own category
There is a lot more changes coming our way in the next refresh, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you guys. Subscribe to our RSS feed for the latest information regarding the new version of Windows Live Messenger.
There have been several small developments over the past week, mostly involving the new public beta of Windows Live Messenger 9. Here is the stuff that may not warrant a full news post, but we didn't want to slip under the net:
- The MessengerSays blog, the official blog of Windows Live Messenger, has gone through the details of the Wave 3 update explaining each new feature in depth, complete with screenshots and even videos.
- A-Patch has been updated for the Wave 3 beta version. Following concern over the future development of skins and patches, the popular Messenger patching application has found a walk-a-round and has been updated to include a vast amount of features. For those of you who hate ads, or certain things within Messenger, this is your chance to block them out.
- The Windows Live Messenger library has been updated to version 2.5 which improves on the web API of the program, giving web developers more access to the workings of the Messenger servers.
- Patchou has commented on a version of Messenger Plus! Live for Windows Live Messenger 9. He told users: "I'll start working on it today [Wednesday 17/9] but I can't say yet if I'll release something publicly before the final version is released by Microsoft or not (all of that depends on when they'll actually release a final)."
- LiveSide have revealed how they found the Wave 3 download links, and defended themselves for making them public. I believe they are still very bitter about their DMCA notice they received a few weeks ago (as are we), and have tried to persuade Microsoft to have better PR relations. They make a valid point.
Good news for Windows XP users still wanting to use MSN Messenger. The new 7.0.0820 build released a couple of weeks ago now allows XP users to sign into it, without any hassle. Anand from the MessengerSays blog has this to say:
This is great news and it shows that the Messenger team are listening to its users.
Source: MessengerSays blog
We've seen feedback from several people that they would like to stay on a version of MSN Messenger. Given that many of us currently on the Windows Live Messenger team also worked on MSN Messenger for years, we can appreciate the sentiment. Based on this, we have a new option we hope you'll like.
For those of you on XP who are passionate about staying on MSN Messenger, we've now released the new, more secure build of MSN Messenger 7.0 build 0820 for Windows XP, and we recommend you install and use this build (rather than running MSN Messenger 7.5 on XP in Windows 2000 compatibility mode as we realize some of you are doing). If you currently have MSN Messenger 7.5 installed, we recommend you uninstall it via Add/Remove Program
This is great news and it shows that the Messenger team are listening to its users.
Source: MessengerSays blogLooks like this piece of news is a few days old, but nevertheless I'll post it anyway. The new Windows Live Messenger 8.5 beta build released last week, which was believed to contain minor bug fixes and tempt Messenger users into using the new Windows Live Installer actually has significant improvements to video calling:
I want small improvements like this to be applied all over Windows Live Messenger. You all must have a pet hate feature that you find horrible to use (adding emoticons or sending files to a contact for example). I've also noticed the Messenger team are blogging a lot more and there appears to be some new faces.
Source: MessengerSays blog
My name is Aaron, and I'm a PM for the Messenger Voice, Video and Sounds team. We recently released an update to our earlier 8.5 Beta (which Jason pointed out earlier) that has many improvements to video call, especially on Vista. If you've occasionally run into audio jitter or noise in a Video Call, our latest version should help. We also improved echo support and a small issue with the volume sliders.
I want small improvements like this to be applied all over Windows Live Messenger. You all must have a pet hate feature that you find horrible to use (adding emoticons or sending files to a contact for example). I've also noticed the Messenger team are blogging a lot more and there appears to be some new faces.
Source: MessengerSays blogIt seems the Messenger bloggers are being picked off one by one. First Leah Pearlman left us to go join a more glamorous job over at Facebook and now Nicole, program manger, has temporarily gone to have a baby boy.
It seems the bloggers are disappearing. Does this mean no more witty posts? Let's hope not, I'm struggling finding news myself here (that's a lie, there is loads, all bookmarked, I'm just busy with exams at the moment).
View the post over at the MessengerSays blog
It seems the bloggers are disappearing. Does this mean no more witty posts? Let's hope not, I'm struggling finding news myself here (that's a lie, there is loads, all bookmarked, I'm just busy with exams at the moment).
View the post over at the MessengerSays blogTalk to the people who make Messenger ... using Messenger
on Tue 03 Apr 2007 (20:35 GMT) (1853 views)
on Tue 03 Apr 2007 (20:35 GMT) (1853 views)
Today, for what is the first (and maybe only) time ever, any ordinary Messenger user will get the chance to IM with Nicole, a program manager on the Messenger team.
Presuming that they're not just gonna let people talk to a bot (an automated chat robot) this sounds like it will be chaos to me:
- Several hundred users will be chatting at once and if there is only one person replying then most people will not get talked to at all.
- Most people will be asking questions about new features and other things that cannot be disclosed.
- The contact list of the special address they are using will have to fill up at some point, even though they have probably allowed it to have more contacts than normal users.
- The same things will be asked over and over again.
- Several other more complex reasons that I can't be bothered to get into.
So from 4PM PST time, for an hour, you can ask away by just adding messengerbloggers [at] hotmail [dot] com to you Windows Live Messenger contact list.
Have fun, and if you get any interesting or funny replies from any of your questions then feel free to post them in the comments here.
A bit more info at MessengerSays
See what you local time will be when you can start chatting
Presuming that they're not just gonna let people talk to a bot (an automated chat robot) this sounds like it will be chaos to me:
- Several hundred users will be chatting at once and if there is only one person replying then most people will not get talked to at all.
- Most people will be asking questions about new features and other things that cannot be disclosed.
- The contact list of the special address they are using will have to fill up at some point, even though they have probably allowed it to have more contacts than normal users.
- The same things will be asked over and over again.
- Several other more complex reasons that I can't be bothered to get into.
So from 4PM PST time, for an hour, you can ask away by just adding messengerbloggers [at] hotmail [dot] com to you Windows Live Messenger contact list.
Have fun, and if you get any interesting or funny replies from any of your questions then feel free to post them in the comments here.
A bit more info at MessengerSays See what you local time will be when you can start chattingPage: 12
Messenger Stuff