Windows Live Wave 3: Messenger v9

[StevoJD]

Transparent Aero effects eye candy stuff.

[HawkMan]

Just because you ue WPF doens't mean you have to use unecessary transaprency and 3D graphics and ****.

and in any case if they have transparency it's probably disabled for etter screenshots, but still at M1 as has been said before, it's not going to have the ifnal GUI, they're just working on the layout yet, not the actual graphics and crap.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Umm what is a WPF app supposed to look like?

The age old question, "What does an API look like".

You can make a WPF app look like a Windows 3.1 app, or make it look like some futuristic GUI, it's a really flexible API in what you can make it do. The best hint you've got is that WPF will disable sub-pixel AA on text in certain circumstances, while normal apps won't.

Personally, I think it looks nice, the avatars being on the left just seems strange though :/

[Fagutish]

Avatars on the left seem counterintuitive considering we read from left to right it would be a user interface design fault to put it on the left only. If it was customizable I'm sure some people that write right to left (arabic is the only language that comes to mind right now) would appreciate that change while the rest of us would be quite happy also.

[#Michael]

Kind of ticks me off a bit. Since the first dogfood beta group (last year into eary this summer) hasn't been contacted yet for wave 3, why has this been leaked? I have been waiting for this and now I have to find out about it on the net!?!?

I helped out a lot on that last dogfood build and my hope is that Microsoft would at least give us the heads up first.

[azz0r_wugg]

The avatars need to move back to the right, you cant just randomly put them on the left when they've been on the right for 8 major releases.

Here's hoping we get some Windows Live Mail updates soon, I'm fed up of the constant niggles that get to me, love the app itself though.

[mad_onion]

i don't have any idea how it takes them so long to develop new version of messenger. they always end up looking the same! maybe they should just put some effort in and actually make it good lol

[azz0r_wugg]

i don't have any idea how it takes them so long to develop new version of messenger. they always end up looking the same! maybe they should just put some effort in and actually make it good lol

What would make it "good"?

Do tell.

[PyX]

What would make it "good"?

Do tell.

You sound as if we had nothing to say about how bad Windows Messenger really is.

I'd start by fixing the bugs, it's always a great solution :p

Then I'd remove the annoyances (winks, ads, that dumb MSN search who adds a comment to your friend with the 5 best matches of your search)

Then I'd stop changing the GUI at every version... Since like version 4, we're always getting a new GUI, and I never thought it was any better since the previous GUI. Version 6 was probably the best one and they had to change it over and over. So stop wasting your time on GUIs please, waste it on programming.

Then I'd fix all the problems they have with slow file transfers, laggy webcams, etc. I can download 3 torrents at a total of 1MB/s with the correct port opened, and I can receive at 4kb/s with the correct opened portS (yeah, you need a lot of ports opened for MSN, don't know why).

Handwriting, probably one of the most useful features of MSN (don't get me wrong, it IS useful especially when you're trying to write an equation to somebody for a lab report for tomorrow....) should get more features to it. A paint bucket is required, maybe more colours and a grid to manage available colours, etc. We don't need to bloat it either, so we need to be careful with that. Keep it simple, but effective.

---

Now, about the ads, I know it's a free service, but I mean, come on... I'm sure it doesn't cost them a lot to run MSN nowadays, because there's a lot of PC-to-PC connections instead of passing through a server, and honestly... MS's servers probably don't cost a lot to them, except when they buy it (Windows is free for them, Windows technicians cost less, IIS, ASP, ASP.net are all free ...) Or at least just put a single ad, not like 10 everywhere to bloat it.

[Pharos]

I kinda like it, although they should put back the square outline around the conversation part. The left portion of the window feels completely wasted as they moved the display pictures to the other side. I just hope they don't slap a huge *** ad in that empty space :p

[Sean B. Veteran]

Kind of ticks me off a bit. Since the first dogfood beta group (last year into eary this summer) hasn't been contacted yet for wave 3, why has this been leaked? I have been waiting for this and now I have to find out about it on the net!?!?

I helped out a lot on that last dogfood build and my hope is that Microsoft would at least give us the heads up first.

The reason why you haven't be contacted about Wave 3 is because it hasn't started yet. We're slowly getting information on what exactly they've been working on the past few months. No need to be all uptight about it man :). You're not missing out on anything.

You sound as if we had nothing to say about how bad Windows Messenger really is.

I'd start by fixing the bugs, it's always a great solution :p

Then I'd remove the annoyances (winks, ads, that dumb MSN search who adds a comment to your friend with the 5 best matches of your search)

Then I'd stop changing the GUI at every version... Since like version 4, we're always getting a new GUI, and I never thought it was any better since the previous GUI. Version 6 was probably the best one and they had to change it over and over. So stop wasting your time on GUIs please, waste it on programming.

Then I'd fix all the problems they have with slow file transfers, laggy webcams, etc. I can download 3 torrents at a total of 1MB/s with the correct port opened, and I can receive at 4kb/s with the correct opened portS (yeah, you need a lot of ports opened for MSN, don't know why).

Handwriting, probably one of the most useful features of MSN (don't get me wrong, it IS useful especially when you're trying to write an equation to somebody for a lab report for tomorrow....) should get more features to it. A paint bucket is required, maybe more colours and a grid to manage available colours, etc. We don't need to bloat it either, so we need to be careful with that. Keep it simple, but effective.

---

Now, about the ads, I know it's a free service, but I mean, come on... I'm sure it doesn't cost them a lot to run MSN nowadays, because there's a lot of PC-to-PC connections instead of passing through a server, and honestly... MS's servers probably don't cost a lot to them, except when they buy it (Windows is free for them, Windows technicians cost less, IIS, ASP, ASP.net are all free ...) Or at least just put a single ad, not like 10 everywhere to bloat it.

A few points here:

Fixing bugs: As is every Microsoft product, there is always going to be bugs with Messenger. Simply because they're developing it for so many different platforms. The bugs are fixed according to the severity of the bug, and how many people experience the bug. Again, as with all Microsoft products. The Messenger team, in my opinion, has been the best at fixing the most annoying bugs.

Removing features: Keep in mind that you're not the only one using WLM. WLM is used by over 294 million people, and by a people aging from 6-50+. So the annoying features to you, could possibly be used by 200+ million people. This is why we have options of disabling some of the key "annoying" features you think should be removed :).

The UI: I somewhat agree, but if you think about it since Windows Live rolled out, they've been struggling to find a happy medium with their UI. If it keeps getting better and better, I think new UI's are great :). Especially when they're implementing technologies such as WPF.

[y_notm]

Now, about the ads, I know it's a free service, but I mean, come on... I'm sure it doesn't cost them a lot to run MSN nowadays, because there's a lot of PC-to-PC connections instead of passing through a server, and honestly... MS's servers probably don't cost a lot to them, except when they buy it (Windows is free for them, Windows technicians cost less, IIS, ASP, ASP.net are all free ...) Or at least just put a single ad, not like 10 everywhere to bloat it.

Are you kidding me? You included the cost of the server itself, but neglected the fact that that is probably the smallest part of TCO. Bandwidth, electricity, rent for where ever you're storing the servers (you think they're all on the Redmond campus?), these all cost money. And its not like you can just turn on Windows Server and have an IM server running just like that. MSN's servers are custom written, so you need developers to write them, IT to maintain them, testers, customer support, etc. These all cost money, lots of it. And we haven't even talked about the client yet.

It's not like MSN is the only one to have ads, either. AOL's had them for years. At least Microsoft's aren't loud and obnoxious if you accidently mouse over them.

Edited August 17, 2008 by y_notm

[»X«]

^ Yes they are. One right now is some Ron Burgundy **** which pops out when you mouseover.

[y_notm]

^ Yes they are. One right now is some Ron Burgundy **** which pops out when you mouseover.

I retract that part of my statement and add 1 to my evil Microsoft tally.

[PyX]

I'm not sure if they need servers for WLM actually, I thought MSN was PC-to-PC, if it's not, it's retarded or they better have good reasons. Bandwidth, electricity, and all that... do you really think it costs a lot? I'd be surprised I think of the cost.

I understand that there's a lot of advertising on my hotmail account, but MSN's another thing. On hotmail, I have what, 2 GB of data for myself? I can send and receive files, I always receive a bunch of SPAM mails, I alwasy receive good mail, etc. and an email right now (well at least on hotmail) is not PC-to-PC, they are all stored on their servers.

I'd be ready to let the winks survive in WLM9, but that strange MSN search is really poorly, but POORLY, implemented and I don't see its utility at all.

[mail]

In the feature department quite a few things have been added and changed as well. The biggest of which is the new Groups feature (while the old groups are renamed to Categories). A Group is a special chat room to which you can invite your buddies, and which stays on your contact list until you delete it (making it an instant multi-party conversation). The group will appear to be online when a another buddy in the group is also online. With a group, you can share files, photos, chat history, etc. Aside from groups, there's another new entry in the contact list: the Favorites category. This category is always shown at the top, and when contacts are added to them their full details are shown in your contact list (similar to the "Show all contact details" feature in v8.5). The favorites category is also shown on older clients, where it will display as a regular category.

Along with the new UI of the conversation window (most noticeably the display pictures appearing at the left side of the conversation), a new feature has also been added: photo sharing. You can add or remove photos from the current session, and browse through them while you and your buddy discuss the currently displayed photo. Although we couldn't try it out in detail yet, this promises to make it much easier to show all those holiday and party photos to your buddies.

The build in question is the first milestone after the questionable BETA period which was closed at the end of June, with a new second milestone already coming up. We can't wait to see what turns up in the next few months... Seeing as the most-requested features haven't been added yet (Messenger Team, we're looking at you!). We will keep you posted.

Source

[Sean B. Veteran]

^ That's old news, check out Messenger Stuff for more information regarding the internal builds :).

I'm not sure if they need servers for WLM actually, I thought MSN was PC-to-PC, if it's not, it's retarded or they better have good reasons. Bandwidth, electricity, and all that... do you really think it costs a lot? I'd be surprised I think of the cost.

Actually the PC->PC connection is option and is not enabled by default :). And the bandwidth and all of the above is indeed a huge cost with over 245 million users.

[kuvvet]

Source

loooooool i want this skin to msn :(((((

[DigitalE]

Wow, it looks very nice.

Too bad I don't use Live Messenger anymore; I switched to Digsby :D

[neo1911]

The leaked beta is all microsoft have been cooking for past 10 months, then it is such a shame.

And even almost after 2 years of Vista RTM, they still havnt been able to master WPF

[Wanderermy]

JCXP have the installer for download

[NienorGT]

:whistle: Omg, it look nicer that way....

[Sean B. Veteran]

loooooool i want this skin to msn :(((((

Already done, clicky. :)

The leaked beta is all microsoft have been cooking for past 10 months, then it is such a shame.

And even almost after 2 years of Vista RTM, they still havnt been able to master WPF

Why we won't see a full WPF UI :)

JCXP have the installer for download

And it won't be soon before a DMCA is sent out :).

[Ambroos]

If anyone got it from Microsoft by now, does it install without showing an actual installer?

[Niels.]

Well, I got a hold of the beta and I have to say that it looks very good. It is using WPF though it is not fully implemented. The major differences being that it now features an Aero window border on both the contacts screen and the conversation screen as well as several subtile effects in the conversation window.

This is definately a major improvement to the UI and I look forward to seeing more!