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Microsoft Releases Messenger for Mac 8 Beta

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Apr 12, 2001
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Microsoft today announced the launch of a beta version of Messenger for Mac 8, bringing support for audio and video calls with Windows Live contacts.
Have you have ever wanted to do an audio call or a video call from your Mac with a contact on the Windows Live network? Starting today you can! Using your Live ID, Messenger for Mac users can now make AV calls to each other. Messenger for Mac 8 is also the first and only Mac-desktop client that can do calls with Windows Live Messenger 2009.

Click to expand...
The company notes that the release has been a long time coming due to significant protocol changes required for compatibility with Windows Live and remains a beta version because of several "finishing touches" still required.

Messenger for Mac 8 will see its official release later this year alongside Office for Mac 2011.

Article Link: Microsoft Releases Messenger for Mac 8 Beta
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/24/microsoft-releases-messenger-for-mac-8-beta/
And it seems, after all that hype, MSN Messenger 8 is just another slow, bloated, buggy*, featureless pile of bile. It has video, big deal. So will Adium soon.

Come on MS! To make a MSN for mac you need to:
  • Support ALL of the features that the Windows version has
  • Support Growl
  • Stop the bloatedness, my fans were blowing after only 10 mins of video use!
  • Make it look like Mac. This is more Gnome.

*I know it's a beta, but I cannot imagine the real thing being any better.
 
roadbloc said:
And it seems, after all that hype, MSN Messenger 8 is just another slow, bloated, buggy*, featureless pile of bile. It has video, big deal. So will Adium soon.

Come on MS! To make a MSN for mac you need to:
  • Support ALL of the features that the Windows version has
  • Support Growl
  • Stop the bloatedness, my fans were blowing after only 10 mins of video use!
  • Make it look like Mac. This is more Gnome.

*I know it's a beta, but I cannot imagine the real thing being any better.
Click to expand...

When adium actually has video (its been soon on adium for as long as mac messenger) then i may be willing to switch. Until then i like my slow, bloated and buggy messenger for mac
 
Who cares?

I can call and video conference with MSN LIVE clients from Yahoo Messenger.
 
Looking forward to it..though I switched over to Skype for calling/video years ago, after MSN Messenger (also on Windows) just never worked as it should. But I still prefer the MSN Messenger now being on the Mac for just messaging. (Though only like 10 friends still use it, everyone else is chatting through Facebook these days)

I tried, Adium, Mercury and a few other messengers. But I just never liked them (speaking of design). Sure it could be more Mac like, but I prefer it for the things it does well.
 
I know, I know it's a beta version, but for a two years wait I found it a little buggy for my tastes.

• Read the FAQ first – the things that it said doesn't work, doesn't work (no surprises there) – e.g. no custom emoticons, no custom profile pictures – lots of existing features are broken.

• It crashed shortly after loading, so I deleted all Messenger files from ~/Library/ and started from scratch – no difference.

• The audio/video chat DOES work, cross-platform too (incredible! – only after Skype, Yahoo, AIM/iChat, and all flash-based web videos out there) but it is slightly buggy: It crashed Mac OS X (requiring a restart by pressing and holding the power button) one of the times I tried launching the chats from the Mac side. Also, the full-screen chat stretches/distorts the image for those people who do not have a wide-screen webcam / one matching the dimensions of your monitor; while your own chat window is displayed as a square image, for those unlucky enough to have an image with a ratio of 1:1.

Still no word on any other features:

• Handwriting = Nope.
• Logging in from two machines at the same time = Nope.
• Messenger Games = Nope.
• Groups (introduced in the latest Windows Live Messenger) = Nope.

But still... it's a start. Still somewhat glad to know that some work is being put into Messenger, but somehow, I feel the developers behind Messenger:Mac won't be proud that they would release such an incomplete work to the public...
 
Seems incredibly buggy.

I installed it on my laptop and my daughters.

Can't add a contact on either computer. They add but are not displayed in the contact list. Video chat doesn't seem to work.

:mad:
 
Also , Bug I have noticed is Display Pictures, you cant change them , tried removing the com.microsoft.Messenger.plist , same issue ,, still going to keep it ... just hope that Microsoft don't screw us like they did last time with Office 2008 and not include Macro's !
 
After years of promises and excuses, MS actually, finally, add audio + video.

Aduim are struggling developers.. video support will take a while :-(
 
A/V isn't working

A/V wont work for me for some reason people just don't get my requests and they can't see whether I have a webcam so they can't start the conversation. So this seems like a complete let down. Especially with no display pictures or custom emoticons!
What a let down. I guess it back to the old one at least I gain some features using that :rolleyes: Yes I know its Beta, but one that has taken 2 years!!!!!!
 
VPrime said:
There are groups.
Go to contacts>Sort contacts by> Groups.

It isn't bad. Seems to be working fine, but I will probably stick with adium.
Click to expand...

No, that's not the feature I was referring to.

Groups is a new feature added in Windows Live Messenger 2009 (version 14); in the Windows version, they renamed what is formerly known as Groups into 'Categories'.

Groups in WLM2009 allow users to have group conversations with other members – they're like multi-user chats with preselected groups. Linked with online Windows Live services, they allow sharing pictures and files with users. The Mac version doesn't support any of these.
 
Will this let you hook into a Communicator 2007 server and use OCS to chat with Communicator users on a business network?

Or is this just 'MSN / Windows Live'

ARE there any OCS communicators with audio/video that can hook into a corporate communicator server?
 
Can you say buggy?

Yes, I can say buggy. I guess maybe the main thing they're wanting tested is the video - nothing else seems any different except for what they somehow managed to break. Interface still not quite standard and even looks a little worse.
 
Well its still carbon too which is a shame with the time spent i would have thought a cocoa rewrite was in the works.
 
It took them 2 years to implement video. Bravo. In 2014 they will have the Growl feature there.

Just don’t bother, really. MSN for Mac is a big FU from MS to the Mac community. Even tho I appreciate what the guys at Mac BU are doing it’s unfortunately not nearly enough.
 
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