The first Windows Live product to leave beta status globally will be released tonight by Microsoft. Windows Live Messenger spent just six weeks in public beta. We reviewed most of the features available now when the beta launched.
Most notable are the inclusion of voice calls through the interface and dedicated hardware, offline messaging and an easy system for file sharing.
After years of ridicule by people awaiting the release of Vista and Microsoft’s general reputation for painfully slow development, the release from beta status of Live Messenger may be the first sign of a serious shift in operations in this new, post-Gates era. When it was announced on Thursday that Gates would be giving up his position as Chief Technology Architect to former CTO Ray Ozzie, Live was discussed as the major direction for the company in the future.
The company says that more than 20 new Windows Live services will launch globally over the next year.
The Live Messenger site seems to be broken at the moment - all I’m getting is the top banner.
Marshall,
Not sure that it’s the first to leave beta - Windows Live Favorites removed the beta label last week:
http://mashable.com/2006/06/16.....t-of-beta/
I don’t see any real innovation in the entire “Live” service line except for the UI, and even that is questionable (I don’t like how it scrolls when you do a search).
Of course, those are just my opinions. Moving to the web is the right direction, but I have a feeling that Microsoft might end up like Kodak did when things went digital. Anyone else have that feeling?
The press release for the Windows Live Messenger release was updated. It looks like Windows Live Messenger will actually be released tomorrow (6-20).
@Robert: A couple of things with Windows Live Messenger are innovative if you ask me. The way it handles file transfers (sharing folders rather than sending a file) is new to messenging. It’s integration with other Windows Live services is also innovative.
I think the “innovation” of Windows Live will be much more evident in the coming months when it become clear how Windows Live gadgets are able to interact with Windows Vista, and when it becomes clear how all the Live services complement each other, and other Microsoft products in general.
I suppose you are right David… I didn’t think about the integration with Windows Vista.
If they make photo and video sharing as easy as right clicking on photos or folders, I fear for services like Flickr and YouTube.
They could do the same with search, just integrate it into the taskbar. The standard user (99% of everyone with a PC) will simply use that instead of manually going to Google or Yahoo. I wonder if we’ll see another anti-trust lawsuit?
Hey guy? I realize it’s a nice turn of phrase and makes for great hyperbole, but it’s not the “post-Gates era.” You’ve said this a couple times now and it’s not true. First of all, he hasn’t been in charge of day-to-day operations for years now, he’s been the CSA. And do you recall how long his phase-out period for the CSA role is? Two years. In 2008, you can start talking about the “post-Gates era.” In the meantime, it’s just non-information.
CyberNet has all of the downloads listed for the various languages:
http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2.....-released/
Great, now Microsoft should take all computer users into account and bring out fully compatible Mac OS X and Linux clients.
Ron, read Michael’s statement one more time. He says, “…the release from beta status of Live Messenger may be the first sign of a serious shift in operations in this new, post-Gates era.”
Gates is still head of the board, but he has not had operations oversight for awhile.
My understanding is that Ozzie was brought in to align operations to the company’s goal in expanding the monetizing of their product line from solely “licensing” to other and newer forms.
On the post-Gates language - the announcement Thursday said Ozzie was taking over as CSA effective immediately. And though as with so many things there isn’t a truly bright line between one period and another, I think last Thursday will go down in history as when the line got drawn. That’s why I’ve used the phrase a couple of times.
The post-gates era is definitely an appropriate term to use as Gates was the guiding hand to both Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie, which were his left and right hand. His decision to step down as of thursday from his full time role as chief software architect and focus on his donation foundation what I beleive to be the moment of great historical significance. The shift of priority and the decision to down scale his significant role is the point to take note here.
Live does not work on Safari yet but all looks fine on Flock. I think Live is pretty cool. It’s neat. I will swtich from google for a bit when it’s ready for safari. For search I think MS is the underdog and i’d usually like to support any underdog….
I’ve been using Live Messenger pretty much since the beginning of the beta, and it is what has made me pretty much switch over to Trillian, (plus increased need for other messaging networks).
Windows Live Messenger, for me, takes way too much system resources. Almost 40 MB in Task Manager, compared to Trillian’s 4 MB. While I think the new features and interface are great Windows Live Messenger has become too much of a resource hog for me.
Also important to note that, like the Yahoo offering, MS has a full API available for developers, in addition to a currently open $40k competition:
http://www.robotinvaders.com/main/default.aspx
Does anyone know how verizon web chat, or whatever it is called, compares to Skype in terms of voice quality? They don’t take paypal…
Any1 hace a huge problem signing in??? it hasnt signed me in for 2 days says its temporarily unavailable how can tht b for like 2 dayz!!! HELP!!!!
Hi Duran.
Me too. I’ve been suffering the same problem.
When I do get in.. its eithre only partially downloading / displying my contacts list.. or none at all.
Any ideas??
Resource hog does not begin to describe Live Messenger. Not only does it use excessive memory (not that big a deal) it uses gigantic amounts of CPU, even when - particulalry when - doing nothing. It’s time to move on…
I don’t fear for google or flickr, because they’re already miles ahead. Oh and I really love it how installing Live Messenger completely doesn’t work even though previous versions did. Tells me that my proxy isn’t working and IE can’t connect to the internet. Oh but then how do I type this.
I never was in love with MS products, but they were decent for a while. Even though they have more money than anyone else, they still can’t produce good software. If they’d concentrate on software and not marketing maybe things would change.
For what it’s worth I think the old hotmail was better as well. Does anyone at MS even know google exists?
Takes about 3 mins to sign in after I click the sign in button, and when it eventualy signs in it crashes for about another 2 mins, then hogs all my resources..
it takes me about 1 min 2 log in it dont take log i have about umm 30 frends