Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview Released

[Jeff]

I first saw an early version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January. Code-named 'Diablo' -- it looked and sounded great, and I have anxiously awaited a version that we could get our hands on at BigBlueBall. Well, the wait is finally over and from what I have seen, it looks great.

Yahoo has officially released a public preview version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista (yes, you can download it, too -- if you're running Windows Vista).

Built from the ground up specifically for Windows Vista, this new messenger looks great and includes some nice changes, including:

• An entirely new interface that takes full advantage of Vista's graphics subsystem
• Tabbed chats, allowing you to collect your active chats in a single, tabbed window -- or drag them to their own window
• A Windows Sidebar gadget that let's you easily keep tabs on your favorite contacts
• Enhanced color themes (although I'm not so keen on the grass or the woodgrain). You can also change the theme of every chat window you open!
• Enhanced emoticons
• Scalable contacts, allowing you to adjust the size of your contact list with a slider
• Built-in spell checking
• Concurrent installation allows you to install and run Y! Messenger for Vista and your current version (Y! 8.1 or 9.0) on the same computer.

Please keep in mind that this is a preview release (often referred to as beta software). This means that there will be bugs, and there are features that are still missing. The current preview release does not include voice, webcam, chat rooms, text messaging to mobile phones, IMVironments, Audibles, plug-ins, photo sharing or conferencing. Most of these features are still being worked on for "future releases."

If you're running Windows Vista and would like to try it out, you can download Yahoo! Messenger for Vista now.

Links

• Download Yahoo! Messenger for Vista (Preview)
• Official message from Senior Product Manager Josh Jacobson
• Photos from tonight's launch event
• Hi-rez screencast
• More screenshots

[VvWolverinevV]

Looks pretty sweet. Josh needs more RAM though :D You could actually see the windows stutter step around the screen as he dragged them :p

[MrEggsalad]

You don't need more RAM heh, I just downloaded it and tried it (C2D 3.0GHz processor and 4GB of RAM) and dragging windows was a wee bit laggy, but like resizing was VERY laggy. I'm not really sure how usable it is, the entire program seems to be laggy. Mainly, get if you just want to check it out, but you won't be able to really use it just yet.

[Jeff]

Interesting... it was working fine for me last night, but this morning I cannot login. It complains that my password is wrong. Yet I can login to Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 just fine (same account; same password). It sounds like they are having "issues" maybe?

EDIT: I'm using a proxy this morning, and that turned out to be the problem. The old version of Y! Messenger would "read" my proxy settings in IE and use those; Y! Mess for Vista required me to specify them in the preferences.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Jeff

...Please keep in mind that this is a preview release (often referred to as beta software). This means that there will be bugs, and there are features that are still missing. The current preview release does not include voice, webcam, chat rooms, text messaging to mobile phones, IMVironments, Audibles, plug-ins, photo sharing or conferencing. Most of these features are still being worked on for "future releases."

Yahoo seems to be in the habit of pushing or issuing "new" releases of their Messenger without much thought of the lack of features, bugs, etc. Perhaps it's time for them to look at Microsoft, who don't habitually issue new releases (even beta ones) of WLM until most of the bugs and kinks are ironed out.

[Jeff]

I really don't get it either. I saw essentially the same thing when I was at CES nearly twelve months ago! And it's just being released (as a pre-beta) now?! Clearly they have some resource issues. Maybe they have been spread across a number of projects (web, Mac, XP, etc.) or maybe they felt pressured to release this, but it does seem half-baked.

Pretty, but half-baked.

[Hasan]

Is it just me or does it really look like Apple iPhone?

[Yahooligan]

It doesn't look like the iPhone to me, but it does have a sexy UI. And for what it's worth, they've released a version for 64-bit Vista users:

Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview is now available for users who are running a 64-bit version of Vista. Please go and download the latest version from our website (build 2007.12.06.421).