Own up, who broke the terms of use?
The final version of Windows Live Messenger 8.5 only launched a few weeks ago as part of Windows Live Wave 2, but that hasn't stopped the Messenger team from moving forward quickly with Windows Live Messenger 9.0.
Scheduled for a final release in late 2008 or early 2009, invitations for the very first beta of Windows Live Messenger 9.0 were sent out to five thousand or so select users last week. Having been invited myself, I signed up for the beta via Microsoft's Connect website and soon received the following confirmation:
"We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Windows Live Messenger 9.0 beta program! We're excited to hear what you think about the next version of Windows Live Messenger. As part of this select group you get an exclusive preview of Windows Live Messenger 9.0.
Here are some of the changes you'll see in 9.0:
- Sign-in and messaging in multiple locations - be logged into Messenger from more than one computer at the same time!
- Signature sounds - choose the sound your friends here when you log in, and customise the sounds you hear in Messenger
- Animated display pictures
Please note that this is a private beta for a very small audience only - Windows Live Messenger 9.0 isn't ready for wide distribution yet. By entering the beta, you're agreeing to use the client and send us feedback, and to not share it with anyone else. Doing so is against the Terms of Use. If the build gets out too widely and starts causing problems on the service we may have to shut it down. We don't want to do that and we know you don't want that to happen, so please keep it to yourself."
Clearly somebody out there didn't read the whole thing through, namely the sentence in bold as the beta of Windows Live Messenger 9.0 has now found its way onto Softpedia. Who didn't see that one coming?
With thousands more users now likely to be using this 'private' beta, we wouldn't be completely surprised to see the beta program come to an abrupt end sooner rather than later. For UK users thinking about trying the new beta, let me warn you in advance that the key feature, being able to sign-in at multiple locations, is currently only available to users with a US or Canadian Live account. I'm sure a lot more is to come from Live Messenger 9.0 over the next year but right now, you're not missing an awful lot.
