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Yahoo Messenger for Vista now available

by Parm Mann on 6 December 2007, 16:46

Tags: Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaknh

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Good looks don't tell the entire story

When Yahoo announced that it'd be building a new version of its Yahoo Messenger client from the ground up specifically for Windows Vista back in January, we never anticipated it would take quite this long.

Even still, we're not quite there. The first release made available today is a "preview release" (pre-beta) and therefore lacks a few features, to say the least.

The new Yahoo Messenger is one of the first widely used applications to make use of the Windows Presentation Foundation (the graphics subsystem in Windows Vista) and to Yahoo's credit, it is an attempt at offering something new and desirable. To add to the Vista love, it even has a feature which allows you to drag your favourite contacts onto Vista's Sidebar. Sounds nifty doesn't it?

Nifty as it is, and very good looking too with its use of Vista Aero goodness, it isn't without its problems. Most notably, it's missing the ability to use voice, webcam, chat rooms, text messaging, plug-ins, photo sharing and conferencing. Furthermore, it doesn't yet support 64bit operating systems, at all.

A preview version it may be, but for a software product with so much promise, it delivers so little. Even with its flashy good looks, I've found the performance to be incredibly sluggish and I'm experiencing horrible slow downs whenever one of the fancy animations kick in.

If you're after a messenger client that looks pretty and could in a few releases time be capable of doing more, head over to the official Yahoo Messenger for Vista website where you can now download the preview release.

Useful links
Official announcement: Yahoo! Messenger for Vista: Preview Release Available!
Official website: Yahoo Messenger for Vista
Video preview: See Yahoo! Messenger for Vista in action



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