Posted By Lonn

2008 was a busy year for the Windows Live Messenger team and we’re really proud of what we accomplished.  We started the year with an important update to the previous version, and finished the year with an entirely brand new beta release (link to video showing new features), which recently received the Editor’s Choice pick from PC MAG.

“Among the big three IM apps, Windows Live Messenger is my favorite. Though it's technically still in beta, the product is mature enough to rate, and it's worth our Editors' Choice.”

This is in addition to recognition that we’ve received all over the world including being rated the top Instant Messaging application in Germany’s largest computer magazine, ComputerBild, and appearing on the front cover of Micro Magazine in France.

We couldn’t have done it without all the support and help from our users who continue to provide ideas and feedback on how to make Windows Live Messenger better with every release.  Thank you.

It’s also important to note that not only did Windows Live Messenger release a new version, we released new beta versions off all the Windows Live Essential applications which include the popular Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Live Writer etc.  You can get all of these plus the latest Windows Live Messenger at download.live.com.

Another thing that we’re really proud of from 2008, were the results from the first full year of the IM campaign that we ran in the US.  We donated $1.3 Million to great causes from March 2007 – March 2008. This was all thanks to the generous support that all of you showed by adopting the IM icon in your user names.  It’s never too late to start supporting a great cause, and if you’re interested just take a look at the blog post that Dharmesh wrote or visit the IM campaign site.

Support one of these great causes just by updating your display name.


Here’s a video on how to do it.

In 2008 we also announced a deal with Telefonica that let’s you call people all around the world using your PC and Windows Live Messenger at very low rates, introduced the Windows Live Translator agent, and a handful of great new games for Windows Live Messenger, like World Championship Diving.

Last but not least, I wanted to let you know about the cool 3D emoticons that the Windows Live team in France just created.  Click here to go to the site, then click on ‘installez gratuitement’.  And yes, the site is only in French. :) 

Here’s what they look like in my Windows Live Messenger text area.  You can’t tell from my screen capture, but they are animated and take on a life of their own.

Of course, there are many more things that went on in 2008 but I just wanted to highlight a few of them for you.  On behalf of the entire Windows Live Messenger Team, I’d like to wish everyone a great Happy New Year and best wishes for 2009.

P.S. Here are some photos of the holiday cookies I made for the team.  They were my first ever attempt at making cookies and I may have ‘bit off more than I could chew’ (pardon the pun).  Nonetheless, a few of them did end up looking like the Windows Live buddy icon… although, as you can see, some of them also did not. :)  Next year, I’ll make a cookie cutter to improve the consistency.

Cheers,
-Lonn

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Posted by Bennie

Fun things you can do this Holiday with Windows Live Messenger and a Webcam

Whether across the world, the country or the other side of town, it is easy to stay in touch, face-to-face, during the holiday season using Windows Live Messenger video calling and your webcam. And today, with many people looking to reduce holiday-related travel costs, video calling offers an alternative, fun and affordable way to connect with distant loved ones. With a real-time video call you can share a tradition, tell a tale, sing a song and spread some holiday cheer…together!

Windows Live Messenger video call quality is better than ever. With the most recent Messenger release and a quality webcam, you can now experience a clearer, sharper picture with full-screen VGA video. True VGA video (640x480) is up to four times better resolution then prior solutions when switched to full screen. To experience a true VGA video call, you will need the latest version of Windows Live Messenger, a webcam, a PC with a dual core processor and broadband Internet connection.

Additional improvements have been made in faster connection time to initiate a video call and a video-centric interface when not in full screen mode.

Other fun things you can do with your web cam.

• Create a dynamic profile picture (see the post from Steven on how to do this)
• Place yourself in a holiday visual effect (using the software that comes with your webcam)
• Try Windows Live Video Messages Beta when your friends are not available for a Messenger video call
• Customize emoticons with images of yourself (See screenshot below)
  • Tools > Emoticons > Create >
    Then select a picture that you’d like to make into a emoticon by clicking ‘Find Image’.

Need a webcam for yourself or a gift?

Find out about our Windows Live partner webcams from Microsoft, Logitech and Creative Labs.

Hope you are all having a safe and happy holiday season.  All the best,

Sincerely,
The Windows Live Messenger Team

posted by Thomas.

Howdy everyone!

I'm Thomas from the Messenger games team, and I want to share with you some exciting changes we have made to enhance the overall gaming experience in the new Messenger Beta client. (We just released a Beta Refresh, so make sure you download it from http://download.live.com)  Why change, you might ask?  Well, I believe that every Windows Live Messenger user deserves more than just a dropdown menu when it comes to choosing a game to play with a friend.  I also believe that we should leverage the cool social networking experience Windows Live has to offer.

With those principles in mind, we focused on the following top features:

• Making it easy for you to find the right game for you
• Showing off Sharing your game results
• Discovering what your friends like to play

Getting into the game

We’ve made it easier than ever for you to jump into a game with your friends. Simply click on the Games button while chatting with a friend in the new Windows Live Messenger and select the game you wish to play – an invitation will be sent and you’re off and running! And if you’re looking for something different to play, we’ve made it even easier to discover new favorites by creating a browser that allows you to see what a game looks like before you send an invitation to play. It's quick, easy, and fun!

Publishing Feeds post your game results to your Profile

When you’ve finished playing a game, we’ve improved your social experience by giving you the option to publish your scores directly to your profile.  When friends visit your profile, they can see what games you’ve been playing, your scores and whether you have won or not – and if they click on the game name in the feed, they can learn more about the game and even challenge you to a game! It’s a great way to keep you, your friends, and your family connected and having fun together! 

Here's an example of the prompt you will see at the end of a game and a feed from my profile.

Play internationally

If you are like me, you'll undoubtedly have friends in other countries.  With more than 30 great games to play, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are – your friends can join in whether they live right next door, in another state or country, or even in another hemisphere!  Don't believe me?  Here's a screenshot showing the Spanish game browser (click to enlarge).

More new games

Finally, we are also adding more new games regularly – just take a look at a few of the great games that we’ve added in the last few months:

The next time you are chatting with your friends on the latest Messenger Beta client, try playing one of our fun and friendly games.  Can't decide who gets to pick the movie you’re seeing this weekend?  Well, settle that with a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors... at least that's what I do. :-)

Take a look at the games and the new gaming experience on Windows Live Messenger and let us know what you think!

Thomas

posted by Steven

As Ian on the Windows Live SkyDrive team will tell you, sharing photos with Windows Live Photo Gallery, photos.live.com and SkyDrive has never been easier. With SkyDrive you can now store up to 25 gigabytes of data, photos and files to share with friends, co-workers and family.

I wanted to write a little bit about how we see people using Messenger together with photos.live.com and SkyDrive to share with their contacts. Secondly, I want to talk about why we changed the “Sharing Folders” functionality in Messenger.

There are two major types of file sharing that we’re currently providing through Windows Live. The first type, sharing photos, has become a huge part of our experiences from photo acquisition, albums and tagging in Photo Gallery, synchronous photo-sharing while in a conversation in Messenger, sending photos and photo albums in Windows Live Mail and Hotmail as well as beautiful online slideshows, album sharing and people-tagging on photos.live.com with lots of free online space courtesy of SkyDrive. Your options and ability to share photos has really gotten much more comprehensive with the latest updates coming to Windows Live.

Secondly, there are consumers who want to share more generic file types - either in real-time by dragging them into a conversation window in Messenger or by putting them on the internet to share with their contacts. SkyDrive makes it super easy to store and share these files over the internet – by basically giving you a personal “hard drive in the cloud” and you get to decide which people get access to which folders on that hard drive.  And you can also easily see which of your contacts’ have given you access to parts of their hard drives in the cloud.  Permissions can be read-only or also include the ability to modify files.  And you can even share files with people that don’t have a Windows Live ID.

In the last few versions of Messenger we had a feature called Sharing Folders which would allow you to share files, videos and photos with any of your contacts. What we learned was that most people were using this to show their friends a photo right away when they were in a conversation.  So we built the new photo sharing experience in Messenger.  We also learned that some people did want to share more generic files between each other, but they didn’t like that both people had to be online at the same time for Sharing Folders to sync files between contacts. The great thing about the new sharing experience through SkyDrive is that you post files that you want to share, give your friends the link to the folder and you’re done. They can then get access to those files whenever – either immediately if they’re already online or at any point in the future.

In the new version of Messenger we have integrated links to SkyDrive right into the conversation window. Simply click Publish Files Online and you will be taken to your online SkyDrive where you can create folders, upload files, and decide what to share with your contacts.

With photos.live.com and SkyDrive customers can share photo albums with multiple people all from one place. It’s as easy as dragging and dropping your files into a folder on SkyDrive. SkyDrive lets you set who should see the files or photos and even updates your contacts by putting the names of the files in their What’s New feed.

All in all, we think the new design gives our customers more options for sharing files and an even richer and more fun experience when you’re sharing photos. We would love to know how you share files and what kinds of features you would like to see in future Windows Live products.

Thanks!

Steven and Jeremy