Windows Live Wave 3: Messenger v9

[BajiRav]

Windows Live Wave 3: Messenger v9 ? M1 dogfood build review and screenshots b>

Looks like its open-season on Wave 3 now, with Inky over at Mess.be getting his hands on the Wave 3 Milestone 1 installer for Windows Live Messenger. While Inky may be obsessed with version numbers and about screens, we're more interested in what's going on in terms of new integration across services. Its now been 9 months since the launch of Messenger 8.5, Mail and Photo Gallery as part of Wave 2, but as this is only a first milestone, there'll be other internal updates before a version gets released to the public. That said, there's still some positive signs that the eventual Messenger v9 release is going to be good.

Click to enlarge the screenshots.

Contact List:u>

- The top of the contact list features the new Windows Live Wave 3 header we've seen already. Not much else has changed here, with the links to other Windows Live Services still present, along with the colour customisation options.

- Underneath the word wheel (search box) there is a first-run prompt to set uFavourite Contactsb>. We haven't talked about this new feature yet, but as the name suggests, these are the contacts you are most interested in. Positioning this special group of contacts at the top gives you at-a-glance information about their status and activities, something we expect to see used throughout other Windows Live services. Based on what we've heard we're expecting this feature to be upgraded in the Messenger UI by the final version. We're expecting this to be a big hit with the mainstream Messenger users, so it'll be interesting to see how hard it gets pushed in other services such as Hotmail.

- Windows Live Groups. We said it was more than just a stand-alone service, and here's the proof. By allowing groups of contacts to communicate with each other through Group IM, this takes the existing multi-party chat functionality to a new level. Of course it also opens up others scenarios such as sharing files and photos, so we can't wait to see how this develops. A LiveSide blogger group, now that would be interesting;);)

(As Mess.be mentions, now that Groups is a service in its own right, groups of contacts are now called categories to try and avoid any confusion.)

Chat Window:

u>

- The top of the chat windows features a slim-downed toolbar, offering easy access to the main features you can use in the conversation. The first one, Photos, is new, more on that below.

- The Wave 3 header continues below the toolbar, with the display picture now protruding into this area. The reason for this space-saving move becomes clear when having a group conversation, something that will happen more often in the new versio;);) Note that I haven't blanked out the email address here; its removal saves yet more screen real-estate.

PhotoShare Application

u>

This is a new application that allows users to transfer photos to their contacts for viewing. The main part of the conversation window shows a large preview for one of the photos, with the right hand side column showing smaller previews for the upcoming photos. As I mentioned in our post on Windows Live FrameIt, Microsoft may be late to the photo-sharing party, buts its definitely trying to get going with Wave 3. PhotoZoom integration in the future maybe? Maybe we're just getting too excited, but there's some great opportunities in this area.

Overallb>

While it may look like only some minor changes have been made, there's much more going on under the surface than meets the eye. Groups and Favourite Contacts integration, along with PhotoShare, show great promise at being hits with users ? just compare this to the Winks and Nudges v7 release a few years back and the despair those brought. We can't wait to get testing this, so as Inky says, bring on the next beta!

Source

[Sam Symons Veteran]

Looks very good. I'm quite excited for this one :)

[BajiRav]

Looks very good. I'm quite excited for this one :)

I wish they made it in WPF though :/

[Mr. Gibs]

I wish they made it in WPF though :/

It is supposed to be using WPF, so maybe we'll see that in later builds?

[Blaine]

I wish they made it in WPF though :/

I thought they were? It was on Neowin's front page a few days ago :wacko:

[BajiRav]

I thought they were? It was on Neowin's front page a few days ago :wacko:

Well, these screenshots don't look like a brand new or WPF app.

[TakeNothingBack]

Not a fan of the conversation window. The quick icons panel and display picture boxes should remain in the same place.

[NienorGT]

If we can hide our avatar this thing could be nice.

[:: Lyon ::]

Doesn't look much different, but always love new stuffs

[Denis W. Veteran]

Out with the gloss, in with the light flares! (which IMO look better)

That being said, why are the display pictures to the left of the conversation?

edit: See the about screen. Where's version 9 through 13? :huh:

Edited August 12, 2008 by rm20010

[Argi]

Avatars on the left? What a poorly thought change. Rest of it looks good.

[Premgenius]

Looking good

[mail]

Am I only one who thinks that is terrible?

Light blue, gloss on text, some sort of blurred clouds?

Whatever happened to simplicity?

:no:

[Sam Symons Veteran]

I wish they made it in WPF though :/

Yeah, I thought it was meant to be made in WPF? Hmm.

[BBinder]

maybe the screenies were taken on xp?

[pataykhan]

What about its feature to integrate with GTalk? Is it implemented or not?

[thealexweb]

Still not going to be enough to bring me back from Pidgin.

[ScottKin]

I know I'm going to catch a ton of flak here about my next comment, but I feel brave this morning.

Nothing irks me more than people commenting on a piece of software that isn't even in the BETA test phase, and how it looks crappy, or they don't like one feature or another, or even asking if it's going to have "Feature Q" instead of "Feature R" or even "Features Q and R" - and then pass judgement on it as if it's the finished product. Heaven help you if, when you were newborn that your parents didn't like how you turned-out because you had the wrong head-shape or that your fingers and/or toes weren't long enough.

Since this is an M1 build, it means that it runs. It may crash, it may have a minimally-new feature-set if that, and may not have any other features that "the outside world" wants at that time because of internal code-changes, and it's UI is not going to be the end-product's look and/or feel. It means that they can say "Whew! It passes code review and the first smoke-test. Now, to fix the bugs we know about and find more bugs"

Have some perspective, people!

:|

--ScottKin

[zerologic]

Am I only one who thinks that is terrible?

Light blue, gloss on text, some sort of blurred clouds?

Whatever happened to simplicity?

:no:

I agree with you. That design is quite honestly over the top and does not match Windows Vista at all. :x

Perhaps this is why Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo!, their 'beta' Vista Messenger is far neater and actually matches the Vista look and feel. Just another example showing that Microsoft has little or no taste.

[alpha_omega]

Windows Messenger 5.1 FTW!!! :laugh:

maybe the screenies were taken on xp?

Nope, it's all Vista (--> scrollbars).

[XerXis]

erm, why wouldn't it be wpf? what do you guys expect a wpf application to look like. I see some things in those screenshots that would definately be easier to achieve with wpf then traditional GDI. But anyways, i think you guys have the wrong ideas about wpf ;)

and oh, wpf is not vista-only, the .NET framework 3.5 runs perfectly fine on xp

[Rix]

Avatars on the left? What a poorly thought change.

Have to agree....

WHY would they change that?

[.tony]

Have to agree....

WHY would they change that?

I have to agree there too.

But, the rest of the UI looks like it's been cleaned up fairly nicely.

Still mixed opinions but it looks okay.

[Fagutish]

erm, why wouldn't it be wpf? what do you guys expect a wpf application to look like.

The reason I'm assuming its still GDI and not WPF is partially due to

A. The windows have no drop shadows in Vista in those screenshots

and also

B. Its too similar to their GDI interface from 8.x and below to be a full rewrite. IMHO anyway..

Also check out Yahoo's WPF-using Messenger. That's the kind of thing most people were expecting hoping for..

[Huleboeren]

The reason I'm assuming its still GDI and not WPF is partially due to

A. The windows have no drop shadows in Vista in those screenshots

and also

B. Its too similar to their GDI interface from 8.x and below to be a full rewrite. IMHO anyway..

Also check out Yahoo's WPF-using Messenger. That's the kind of thing most people were expecting hoping for..

GDI? WPF? quit speaking jibberish :p

Can someone explain to me what it is?