With Windows Live Wave 4 already appearing in several Microsoft products, it is only a matter of time until we hear news about Windows Live Messenger 10. I asked members of the Messenger Plus! community forums to provide their opinions and tell me what they wanted out of Messenger in Windows Live Wave 4. Below is a summary of their responses:
You can see our list of wanted features from many months ago. From what I've noticed the list is not concerned with big new features, but minor tweaks to enchant what appears to be a rich IM experience. However, I always felt Windows Live Messenger 2009 was about that anyway. Nevertheless Microsoft needs to bring something unique to the table in order to get out of the rather piecemeal updates we have seen since the beginning of Windows Live Messenger.
As ever please drop a comment with your ideas, you never know who is reading.
- Integration with social networking websites i.e. Facebook
- Bigger display pictures by default
- Tabbed chatting (we've heard this one before)
- A clean up of the program's UI design
- Fix server issues where messages become undelivered
- More customisable toast alerts
- The ability to choose which side of the conversation display pictures appear on
- The option to turn off cleartype font rendering
You can see our list of wanted features from many months ago. From what I've noticed the list is not concerned with big new features, but minor tweaks to enchant what appears to be a rich IM experience. However, I always felt Windows Live Messenger 2009 was about that anyway. Nevertheless Microsoft needs to bring something unique to the table in order to get out of the rather piecemeal updates we have seen since the beginning of Windows Live Messenger.
As ever please drop a comment with your ideas, you never know who is reading.
One could sum up the title question as knowing very little at all. Although this is partially true, when one scratches behind the surface detail a picture can be painted. Here is a sum up of the news finds I have found that might give us a clue to what may be present in Windows Live Messenger 2010.
The next version of Messenger should be included within the "Wave 4" phase of Windows Live products. This tends to be an annual occurrence, occurring within August, where the final product tends to be released with other Windows Live products during the new year. Of course this does not mean much, but logic has it we will start to hear more news within the next month or so. This is strengthened by Windows Live Messenger's 10th anniversary occurring within a couple of days. When I asked the Messenger development team if we can expect any announcements, they sent me this Twitter message:
So it appears the team have some plans lined up for the big day, and with the growing trend within the past month to chat more openly and post more blog entries on their MessengerSays development blog there are good reasons to suspect some details to surface about Windows Live Messenger 10.
Back in January one of our old news posters, Sean Bradford (now an editor at Neowin) managed to get the chance to interview some Windows Live directors. Below is an extract from questions relevant to Messenger:
There have been rumors about integration with other non-Microsoft services, specifically targeting social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. I for one would like this feature, and TheBlasphemer has also expressed a desire for this to be the next step forward for Windows Live Messenger.
If we look back on what Windows Live Messenger 2009 was about, it essentially created the stable, polished IM client that had been absent since MSN Messenger 7 back in 2005. The constant design updates within Windows Live may also have reached an end, and this gives the impression that Windows Live Messenger 10 will feature some new and exciting features. However, this is just reasoned speculation, we'll have to wait and see what reality holds. Hopefully next week will shed some light on the topic.
The next version of Messenger should be included within the "Wave 4" phase of Windows Live products. This tends to be an annual occurrence, occurring within August, where the final product tends to be released with other Windows Live products during the new year. Of course this does not mean much, but logic has it we will start to hear more news within the next month or so. This is strengthened by Windows Live Messenger's 10th anniversary occurring within a couple of days. When I asked the Messenger development team if we can expect any announcements, they sent me this Twitter message:
So it appears the team have some plans lined up for the big day, and with the growing trend within the past month to chat more openly and post more blog entries on their MessengerSays development blog there are good reasons to suspect some details to surface about Windows Live Messenger 10.
Back in January one of our old news posters, Sean Bradford (now an editor at Neowin) managed to get the chance to interview some Windows Live directors. Below is an extract from questions relevant to Messenger:
Q: Going back to when Windows Live was first released back in 2005, former Microsoft employee Leah Pearlman posted on the MessengerSays blog hinting at the fact that tabbed chatting would be coming into the scene soon. What happened?
A: That is a feature that we are still working on. As you know, we do hundreds of surveys and questionnaires on a monthly basis. We strive to give users the best possible client.
There have been rumors about integration with other non-Microsoft services, specifically targeting social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. I for one would like this feature, and TheBlasphemer has also expressed a desire for this to be the next step forward for Windows Live Messenger.
If we look back on what Windows Live Messenger 2009 was about, it essentially created the stable, polished IM client that had been absent since MSN Messenger 7 back in 2005. The constant design updates within Windows Live may also have reached an end, and this gives the impression that Windows Live Messenger 10 will feature some new and exciting features. However, this is just reasoned speculation, we'll have to wait and see what reality holds. Hopefully next week will shed some light on the topic.
Poll: What must have feature would you like to see in Windows Live Messenger 2010?
on Tue 07 Apr 2009 (17:21 GMT) (1867 views)
on Tue 07 Apr 2009 (17:21 GMT) (1867 views)
Despite the recent release of Windows Live Messenger 2009, we must be conscious another version is in development. Major or minor builds aside, WLM 9 was very much about polishing the program, rather than focusing on new features. My prediction is the Windows Live Messenger 10 will have some big changes or something revolutionary to compete in what has become a newly competitive market in the past couple of years. So, what "big feature" would you like to see?
What "must have" feature would you like to see in Windows Live Messenger 2010?
Feb 2009 results
Last month's poll was asking whether you customize Windows Live Messenger using skins. Below are the results:
Feb 2009 results
Last month's poll was asking whether you customize Windows Live Messenger using skins. Below are the results:
Windows Live Messenger 10: Improvements for the future?
on Fri 06 Mar 2009 (03:13 GMT) (13449 views)
on Fri 06 Mar 2009 (03:13 GMT) (13449 views)
There are many things that Microsoft have done right in the past. They properly got their operating system to be, by far, one of the most popular (if not the most popular) ones out there. They properly made their Office Suite one that a large amount of people use. They have diversified, they have made their name be known by all. But was it all success?
There are quite a few things that Microsoft have done wrong with each of their programs/applications, operating systems, etc. Let's take a look at Windows Live messenger's cons, instead of always defending the pros of the application. Let's hope they can fix these things for Windows Live Messenger 10/ 2010.
File Transfers
They are slow compared to other applications. The transfers are limited (under normal circumstances) to three at a time. What for? No browser limits me to that, why should my instant messenger do it? The progress bar isn't as detailed as one would expect (perhaps an estimated time remaining, like most people have come to be accustomed with other programs?).
Added: Dempsey's comment (see comments for this article) states a good point; why can't we resume file transfers with a person when both are online? It would be nice to be able to pause them, and resume, and it shouldn't be that complicated.
Invite feature?
Sorry to break it to you Microsoft, but that's not an invite button at all. That's a "force this contact into this conversation" button. This means that your email can get revealed to someone you may not want, you may be forced into a conversation with way too many people, perhaps even people you have blocked. Instead of labelling it invite, if you're not going to make a proper invite feature, why not label it "Force a contact to join this conversation"?
Customization
Although this has improved lately with the new "Layout" tab in the options, Windows Live Messenger doesn't have half as much customization from the base product as it should. Users requested skinning for so long, why is it that Patchou had to be the one to add it in? They say they listen to user feedback, yet the closest step they have taken to skinning in all the years is probably backgrounds in conversation windows, and the new scenes. On that note, it seems that you can't have a scene that fits everyone, many contacts will see it distorted in some way.
Forced updates
What's with that? Forcing users to update, otherwise they can't use the application? Sure, it might fix an exploit, and in that case it's understandable. But otherwise? Why would you force users to update if it's not to actually make it safer? At least give them the choice to update right away or not. It's their computer after all.
The contact list
Why can we not order the contacts in any way we want? It's possible now with the favourite group, but other than that, it's alphabetical or online versus offline, and that's it. What if I want certain contacts to be at the top all the time, regardless? Drag and drop should work every time, for whatever I want to do.
Tabbed chats?
Sure, Messenger Plus! does it, and quite great. It would suck to steal from Messenger Plus!, but if they listened to users' feedback over the years, Messenger Plus! would not have had to implement it. Users have requested it forever, and never got it. Of course they'll turn to another application to do it, but should they have to?
Formatting
Don't get me wrong, I love using stuff like Messenger Plus!, and I can tolerate using it for stuff like tabs and all that, because that may not be a feature that everyone wants, but formatting should definitely be implemented directly. The one thing that's useful in conversations is adding bold or italics to emphasize something. Maybe not colours, but at least a way to change the formatting in the middle of a sentence or paragraph. Now I can do it, but only with people that have Messenger Plus! installed as well. What a loss...
Custom emoticons
I love the idea of being able to have custom emoticons, but I hate the idea of people being able to abuse it. I don't want to turn them all off for those few contacts that abuse it. I should be able to set it so only certain contacts can't send me custom emoticons, it should be simple enough.
Polygamy
Why is that not implemented directly? I just don't get it. Thanks again Messenger Plus! (and not to mention Mess Patch and A-patch).
Custom Statuses
That is implemented in most other IM programs, why not this one? Especially now with "brb" gone, I don't want to set my status to away only for a minute or two, yet I want people that decide to start a conversation to be aware that I won't reply right away. It'd be nice to have custom statuses. Thanks Plus!
Connection/servers
Sure, it's normal that servers have maintenance and things need to be upgraded and kept well. Why not connect me to a backup server, or a server from another country that while a little bit slower may allow me to still connect? Just because my account is assigned a specific server, when it's down, I shouldn't have to be down with it. There are usually other servers that are up and running, spread the load but keep it active.
Sure there are plenty of things done right with the program, but there are enough things done badly, or less well than they should, to have users complain. Listen up Microsoft, there are voices that wish to be heard; they can help. That's it for my little rant.
There are quite a few things that Microsoft have done wrong with each of their programs/applications, operating systems, etc. Let's take a look at Windows Live messenger's cons, instead of always defending the pros of the application. Let's hope they can fix these things for Windows Live Messenger 10/ 2010.
File Transfers
They are slow compared to other applications. The transfers are limited (under normal circumstances) to three at a time. What for? No browser limits me to that, why should my instant messenger do it? The progress bar isn't as detailed as one would expect (perhaps an estimated time remaining, like most people have come to be accustomed with other programs?).
Added: Dempsey's comment (see comments for this article) states a good point; why can't we resume file transfers with a person when both are online? It would be nice to be able to pause them, and resume, and it shouldn't be that complicated.
Invite feature?
Sorry to break it to you Microsoft, but that's not an invite button at all. That's a "force this contact into this conversation" button. This means that your email can get revealed to someone you may not want, you may be forced into a conversation with way too many people, perhaps even people you have blocked. Instead of labelling it invite, if you're not going to make a proper invite feature, why not label it "Force a contact to join this conversation"?
Customization
Although this has improved lately with the new "Layout" tab in the options, Windows Live Messenger doesn't have half as much customization from the base product as it should. Users requested skinning for so long, why is it that Patchou had to be the one to add it in? They say they listen to user feedback, yet the closest step they have taken to skinning in all the years is probably backgrounds in conversation windows, and the new scenes. On that note, it seems that you can't have a scene that fits everyone, many contacts will see it distorted in some way.
Forced updates
What's with that? Forcing users to update, otherwise they can't use the application? Sure, it might fix an exploit, and in that case it's understandable. But otherwise? Why would you force users to update if it's not to actually make it safer? At least give them the choice to update right away or not. It's their computer after all.
The contact list
Why can we not order the contacts in any way we want? It's possible now with the favourite group, but other than that, it's alphabetical or online versus offline, and that's it. What if I want certain contacts to be at the top all the time, regardless? Drag and drop should work every time, for whatever I want to do.
Tabbed chats?
Sure, Messenger Plus! does it, and quite great. It would suck to steal from Messenger Plus!, but if they listened to users' feedback over the years, Messenger Plus! would not have had to implement it. Users have requested it forever, and never got it. Of course they'll turn to another application to do it, but should they have to?
Formatting
Don't get me wrong, I love using stuff like Messenger Plus!, and I can tolerate using it for stuff like tabs and all that, because that may not be a feature that everyone wants, but formatting should definitely be implemented directly. The one thing that's useful in conversations is adding bold or italics to emphasize something. Maybe not colours, but at least a way to change the formatting in the middle of a sentence or paragraph. Now I can do it, but only with people that have Messenger Plus! installed as well. What a loss...
Custom emoticons
I love the idea of being able to have custom emoticons, but I hate the idea of people being able to abuse it. I don't want to turn them all off for those few contacts that abuse it. I should be able to set it so only certain contacts can't send me custom emoticons, it should be simple enough.
Polygamy
Why is that not implemented directly? I just don't get it. Thanks again Messenger Plus! (and not to mention Mess Patch and A-patch).
Custom Statuses
That is implemented in most other IM programs, why not this one? Especially now with "brb" gone, I don't want to set my status to away only for a minute or two, yet I want people that decide to start a conversation to be aware that I won't reply right away. It'd be nice to have custom statuses. Thanks Plus!
Connection/servers
Sure, it's normal that servers have maintenance and things need to be upgraded and kept well. Why not connect me to a backup server, or a server from another country that while a little bit slower may allow me to still connect? Just because my account is assigned a specific server, when it's down, I shouldn't have to be down with it. There are usually other servers that are up and running, spread the load but keep it active.
Sure there are plenty of things done right with the program, but there are enough things done badly, or less well than they should, to have users complain. Listen up Microsoft, there are voices that wish to be heard; they can help. That's it for my little rant.
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