Windows Live Messenger Beta 1

Microsoft has finally released the first beta of Windows
Live Messenger to the first few select testers. Activation e-mails were sent
out to the first batch of testers including the 'MSN Beta Butterflies' late
Tuesday, and the initially released build carries the suffix '.0365'. This early beta release of Windows
Live Messenger brings with it a completely revamped interface and many
functionality changes including:

Editable contact information
and 'Buddy Renaming'

Offline Messages

Computer-phone audio sessions

Folder sharing

The 140 or so million people not selected to participate in
this beta are out of luck this time around. The new version of the MSN protocol
being implemented in WLM checks for an authorized 'beta tester' passport
account upon login. Even pre-selected beta testers are out of luck until they
receive their activation e-mail from the testing team. On a related note,
Microsoft has just released a QFE patch to address issues with the login procedure
with MSN Messenger 7.5. This small patch updates the desktop client to version
7.5.0320 and requires an initial version of .0311 to update successfully.

Canadian testers are advised of the following by Microsoft concerning their WLM authorization e-mails:

"We have a bug in ideas.live.com that will make it so all you will see
is French text when you go to the site. We are fixing the bug right now and
hope to have ready sometime tomorrow. (Wednesday) In the meantime we are going to hold off
sending you the download/authorization link. I know this will disappoint all of
you who are following the newsgroups and wouldn't mind wading your way through
the French text. But there are hundreds of you who are not on the newsgroups
yet who will be surprised by this poor experience. Thanks for your
patience!"