The latest version of the popular instant messenger, Windows Live Messenger Beta version 9.0, is now available for beta testers and loyal users to download. At first glance, there isn’t too many noticeable updates except for the apparent change with the UI (user interface). Here is a quick summary of the likes and dislikes based on my few hours of playing around with the latest Live Messenger update.

New Features/Updates:

* New “Scenes” feature let users apply a skin to the messenger which can be displayed by othes when chatting with them. This allows for more customization to cater to individual preferences.
* New “Favorites” feature to let users add the friends they chat with the most to this category. While this is a simple idea, it can be quite useful for some users, and for those who don’t like the feature, there is the option to not display this category.
* New “Group Management” can create a grouped chat among selected users which is perfect for students using Live Messenger to discuss their school projects. This saves the hassle of having to invite users to the conversation each time.
* New “What’s New” feature displays all of the latest changes made by your contacts at the bottom of the Live Messenger window. This includes news about your friends changing their display pictures and changing their nicknames and display messages also.
* New color coded cube-like display icons to indicate the status of your contacts. I personally prefer the status icons in previous version instead.
* Conversation messages are now displayed in bullet forms.

Whle there may be more updates included in this version, I am quite sure I mentioned most of them already. My overall impression is that I am impressed with the UI which very much resembles a Web 2.0 feel to it, and there are certainly a few new features such as Group Management which I must applaud the Microsoft team for including in this latest version.

Sep 17th by admin