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:

• 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.

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using older versions of Messenger, this is a pain as there is a significant amount of people choosing to use an older, outdated build.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:

• 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• Early-October: Users using an outdated version of Windows Live Messenger 2009 will receive the option to upgrade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 blog

With the release of Windows Live Movie Maker this week, the second QFE (Quick Fix Engineering) patch has been released for the Windows Live Wave 3 cycle, updating the entire range of Windows Live desktop applications, including Windows Live Messenger.

Microsoft have not confirmed what the update provides, but one can assume it is security or integration with Windows Live Movie Maker related. The release does not fix the large personal message bug we talked about earlier in the week. Jonathan-Kay has provided a msi file for each installer over at his blog.

This release does not appear to conflict with add-ons such as Messenger Plus! Live and Willz has confirmed skins are unaffected.

Download Windows Live Messenger

As viruses, backdoors, Trojan horses, even root kits are commonly spread these days, you should pay close attention while using Windows Live Messenger in order to maintain your own and your computer's safety. Here are some tips that help you to stay secure:

1. Do not click every link you receive.
   Be careful about strange instant messages, even when they are sent by contacts you know. There are bad people stealing the passwords of Windows Live IDs in order to send unsolicited messages, also known as SPIM.
   
   
2. Do not accept every contact that is adding you.
   Watch out when accepting people into your contact list. Do you really know who they are? Before talking too intensely with new buddies, ask yourself: "Would I invite this person into my house in real life?" If you doubt, then why meet virtually.
   
   
3. Think before sending personal information to buddies.
   Would you note down your mobile phone number and publish the piece of paper in your city's public square? No? So you see how vital it is to be careful about which personal information you share with people you do not really know, especially your real name, address, date of birth or any phone numbers. Microsoft or Windows Live will never contact you about your Windows Live ID password, so don't tell anybody your password, regardless of what they claim to be.
   
   
4. Do not blindly accept all files that are sent to you.
   Files are the worst thing when it comes to virus danger. Accept only files where you know the con?tents, and only accept files that are sent to you by people you know you can trust. Always use a virus scanner to avoid random infections of your system. Be sure to keep a cur?rent back-up of all important data on your computer on an external device that is not connected normally.
   
   
5. Use your common sense.
   If something sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true.

Getting the most out of Windows Live Messenger can be a difficult job, as many of its best features are some-what hidden. The focus of Messenger Stuff is to supply you with all the secrets you need to know and today we came across this Windows Live spaces website giving some videos on how to make the most out of Windows Live products.

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.

This 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.

• 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.

Listed below is a round up of some interesting figures, facts and statistics I found out about Windows Live Messenger by following @WindowsLive on Twitter over the past couple of days. These were posted as part of the program's 10th anniversary. Expect a post tomorrow detailing all what's going on in July 2009 concerning MSN/ Windows Live Messenger's special birthday.

1. On average, people come back to log-in to Windows Live Messenger 3 times a day, or nearly 1,100 times a year.
2. The average Messenger chat session is 5 minutes long. What's the longest time you've ever chatted with one person for?
3. Did you know? Windows Live Messenger has as many active monthly users as the combined population of USA & Canada.
4. More than 8 billion instant messages are exchanged every day. If you stacked them up as paper, they'd reach to the moon and back.
5. Did you know ... it's Windows Live Messenger's "aluminum" anniversary month? (Of course, we'd prefer diamonds.)

We're a little late, but better late then never;

Thursday, LiveSide reported the following news:



So it would seem that Microsoft is being pressed on by the Obama government to cut some cords, which seems odd seeing as they were apparently trying to tie loose ends and stop the nonsense earlier this year.

There is, however, an alternative method to connect for those users affected by this that has worked for some people. Bleak Morn over at LiveSide mentioned that using a third party program (such as Pidgin and stating that your country is one other than one that has been blocked.

What are everyone's thoughts on this matter?

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.