Windows Live Messenger Review

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Awesome! Thanks to InsideMicrosoft, I got my invite for Windows Live Messenger. I don’t think I’ve been so invited since Gmail 😉

The installation was quick and simple. It didn’t ask me to install MSN Toolbar, set MSN as homepage or anything. I did have to close Windows Media Player, presumbly so it could install the music plugin.

Windows Live Messeger 

The new look is OK but I really can’t say I like the orange. The new interface (to me) also seems to be more cluttered (perhaps I’ve gotten too used to using Messenger Plus to hide a lot of clutter in MSN 7). One of the biggest changes I noticed is that it no longer shows display pictures on the contact list and the status icons are simplified to online/away/offline. When you move your mouse over a contact name, it’ll expand and show you their display picture, status, personal message in full and give you several icons for starting a new convo, sending an e-mail. Nice, but I found it kinda annoying to use.

The MSN Spaces logo looks like Ubuntu to me. 

The buddy search in the conversation window is great and being able to rename your contacts is fantastic.

Edit Contact

I currently use a similar feature in Messenger Plus – from personal experience the Messenger Plus! version is simpler and easier to use and allows you to append the contact’s nickname after your nickname. I suppose Microsoft really really don’t want us typing in random messages in our nickname anymore 🙂

You can now talk offline (if you feel really antisocial) and choose to show timestamps in the message window. This is a nice feature which I’ve been getting from Messenger Plus for a long time.

Although Messenger 8 is certainly nice there aren’t any killer features and I certainly don’t think it’s any easier to use than version 7. Perhaps its the way I use Messenger but my initial reaction is that this is a step down from the comparative simplicity of version 6. It’ll be interesting to see how I feel about Messenger 8 after using it for a few days.

61 thoughts on “Windows Live Messenger Review”

  1. Hmm, seems to me like the file transfer has disappeared and you have to use file sharing. How do you send a file to someone using MSN 7?

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  3. Unfortunately I do not have any invites at the present moment so I’m unable to send an invite. If I recieve any, I will let people know through a blog entry.

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  4. Sent to you Sanjay

    I have 6 more invites; simply leave a note and I’ll send you an invite (providing I still have some) 

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  7. Dispatched invites to both of you

    There are no more invites left at the present; I’ll make another entry when there are some available. 

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  11. Wondering if you could send me a Windows Live! messager invite. I’d love to try it out. I also want to take a look at the protocol behind it all to see if it changed. Thanks, Nick

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  13. Hi, my name is Alessandro and i’m from Italy. I haven’t heard about any Italian beta tester.. may i help and get an invite? Thank you also if the answer will be "negative" 🙂

     My MSN contact is kamen@hotmail.it

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  15. Everyone above should have recieved invites now. Nick W: Any chance you could let me know your MSN Messenger address?

    I have another 3 invites left; first 3 to comment get them.

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  19. Sent out invites to all of you . Nick W: I used the e-mail address you supplied when you created an account.

    Out of invites for the moment; feel free to request an invite but I can’t promise that you’ll recieve one. 

     

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  30. HI Khlo,

    I guess I shud step forward and ask for that last invite u have there 😀

    Will post back with some user comments in the future 🙂

     Thanx!

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  32. Abyssmal: Sent an invite to you.

    Kamen: I wouldn’t be surprised if I recieve some more invites in the next day judging how often I’ve been getting invites recently so you’re first in the queue 🙂 

    Anyone else, feel free to request an invite too and you’ll recieve invites as soon as I get them. 

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  33. Hi Khlo,

    Thanx for the invite, up and running now…I dont seem to have any invites, otherwise i wudda sorted one out for some of u guys.

    will check back if i get some,,initial looks ok

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  38. Sorry for the delay; I only just recieved a new batch of invites. I’ve dispatched out invites to everyone who has asked; two more left.

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  44. You da man. Nice 1 & thanks though I am having probs signing in. Getting a "Error 810003cc" msg. The FAQ states

    "If you receive this error, your account is not valid for use with Windows Live Messenger beta. For more information about how to get the beta invitation for Windows Live Messenger, see How can I get a beta invitation for Windows Live Messenger?."

     Scratching my head with this one as it SHOULD be OK ‘cos u invited me. Any idea’s guy’s..??

     Nothing to do with the fact its not an MSN email address do you think..??

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  56. hi there,

    this looks to be a bit late, but does anyone have any invites left?

    email address: chris.yuhico at gmail.com

    thanks!

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  59. iya

    i just want have something to have colour on ur name like xx-amy-xx in pink something like that or  red it will be really good and better on msn thanx if u do it

     

    from amy

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