Windows Live Messenger provides a great deal of freedom in how you can communicate and with whom, but I’m sure we all know people that like to push the boundaries of Messenger-etiquette…

Here’s a quick look the top 5 Messenger etiquette offenders:

1. The YELLERS	CAPS-LOCK IS APPARENTLY ALWAYS ON FOR THESE USERS AND THEY HAVE A STRONG AFFINITY FOR THE EXCLAIMATION MARK!!!  REGARDLESS OF THE TOPIC, YOU CAN COUNT ON A LOUD RESPONSE!!!
2. Emoticon overload
3. Indecisive typers	That’s what it looks like when I ask my co-worker Alfons a question on Messenger.  He’s either slow, indecisive or both.  Either way, I’m sure we all know someone like this.  The best part is that after 5 minutes all you get is a one word answer. :p
4. Status Ignorers	Your status is set to busy and your message says  “DND – Do Not Disturb.  Delivering a mission critical demo or presentation.”  Not only will a Status Ignorer disregard your message and IM you anyways, but they also tend to start their conversations off with a less than ideal sentence such as: “HeY DuDe, R we going Partying all wknd again?” …which of course, everyone in your demo/presentation will see.
5. Never ending chat	These are typically people that you genuinely care about, an old friend, your mom/dad, a long lost relative etc… You have a great 30 minute chat, which then drags into a 3 hour chat.  Every time you say '”bye”, they start a new topic or ask you a question. This is somewhat parallel to the co-worker who keeps talking to you, even as you leave their office.  Then you have to come back and as ‘what was that?’… they tell you, then you try to leave again, and they again keep talking to you…

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE AND HOW YOU WOULD DEAL WITH THEM.  I’ll write up another post down the road that integrates all of your wisdom along with some of my own thoughts. :)  Just post a comment.

On that topic, as we continue to lead up to the 10th Anniversary of Windows Live Messenger, here are 2 GREAT stories submitted by our user’s about what NOT to do… I was LOL the first time I read them.  Enjoy and thanks Jonathan and Tariq.

Jonathan (UK): The Invention of Group Chat (and Group Feedback)

“A couple of years ago, a new middle manager started working in my department. For the first couple of weeks he didn't make the greatest impression. He looked like he was falling asleep in meetings and generally looked fairly uninterested.

I found out that he'd come from a company that a good friend of mine works for, so I opened up a chat with my friend on Messenger to see if he knew this guy and what he thought of him. I said about the falling asleep in meetings and other negative things that had been discussed around the cooler about him.

My friend said that he didn't know the guy personally, but that some of the 80+ people that he was sharing his screen with in an internal conference obviously did because they were falling about laughing!”

Jonathan, UK

Tariq (USA/Brazil): Not the best Way to introduce a Girl Friend to Mom

“Junior year of high-school my Brazilian girlfriend, Marina, moved back  to Brazil with her family. We used messenger video chat to keep in touch every week (as we do to this day – she is my best friend still).

One day, after a lot of deliberation, she decided to get a tattoo and pinged me excited to show it off. So we opened up a video chat session. The tattoo, a red tropical flower that wrapped around her left side, was hard to see with the shirt she had on so she took it off to provide a better view.

Naturally, my mother walked in at that moment to see an extremely embarrassed, shirtless Marina on my monitor. I reacted the only way I knew how, “Mom, have you met Marina?”. We laugh about the encounter to this day.”

Tariq, USA/Brazil

Thanks again to everyone that submitted a story.  We’ll continue to post them leading up the big 10th anniversary day (July 22nd) so continue to check back.

Today’s Fun 10th Anniversary Fact:  The average chat session is 5 mins long. In the US, chat sessions tend to be shorter with an average 4 mins, while people in China take on average 8 mins for each of their sessions.

Interesting… so where is my father counted in this??? (My dad is a ‘Never ending chatter"’)… :)

Thanks for reading.
The Windows Live Messenger Team

As we mentioned last week, Windows Live Messenger is turning 10 very soon and as part of our celebration, we will be sharing, here on our blog, different stories from our users, tips/tricks and fun facts, leading up to big day, July 22nd 2009.  We’ll also have special guest posts from people that work on Messenger and from around the community.  It’s going to be a great month so stay tuned.

Today’s Fun Factoid
If Windows Live Messenger was a country, it would be the third largest country in the world (behind China and India, and before the United States) and almost 10 times the size of Canada.

Today’s Messenger user story
Thanks everyone for the stories.  We’ve gotten an overwhelming number of funny, touching and odd stories and there is still time to submit one.  If you want to share your story and let others participate in your special moment with Messenger, please send your short story in English to IloveMessenger@live.com by June 28th.

Our first story comes from Clem from Canada.

“I had just met a really cute girl and we started exchanging IMs on Windows Live Messenger.  Even though we were on IM, I was still pretty nervous (yes, lame i know) but of course, tried to keep it cool.  Things seemed like they were going pretty well and we chatted for a little while until she said she had to go, to work on a finance homework problem that she was stuck on.  Being the helpful guy that I am, I offered to help… (limited finance knowledge, but hey, I had to try).  She sent me the problem over IM and I was in luck, a good friend of mine, Jon, was online.  He’d know the answer.  Quickly, I drafted the IM…

“Yo Jon, I’m trying hard to impress this really cute girl I just met, do you have a moment to help me figure out the answer to a finance problem so I can send it on to her.  You need to help me out, she is so hot!”

…then hit send.  It would probably take him a moment to respond, so I went back to the conversation with the girl… I read the last message and saw my message to Jon posted there… oh I guess I hadn’t switched windows, so I doubled checked… and that’s when I realized that I had posted that message to HER instead of Jon by accident.  My jaw hit the ground and stomach fell out.  I can’t really explain how embarrassed I was, and although I didn’t look in the mirror, I could feel my face heat up and I’m sure I was glowing with embarrassment like a tomato…

I didn’t know what to do… I wished you guys had built in an ‘undo’ at that point. :)  All I saw from her end was ‘Jen is typing’… but no message… then ‘Jen is typing’ but no words… that went on for about 4-5 minutes, then finally, she said something like “I have to go to bed, bye” and went offline.

We actually ended up becoming friends but nothing beyond that.  We never mentioned that ‘incident’, but my friends still get a good kick out of telling the story to people (yes, I have great friends) ;).  Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that and keep up the great work.”

I actually LOL’ed when I read that the first time.  Thanks for sharing Clem.  I bet many of us have done something similar. :)

Tip/Trick – Create your own custom emoticon
Did you know you can make your own emoticons from your own photos/images?  This has been around for a little while and is a nice way to be creative and have some fun in Messenger.  Here’s how.

	Step 1 – Click on the ‘Show Menu’ button Step 2 – Click ‘Tools’ Step 3 – Click ‘Emoticons’ Now the Emoticon window will pop up.
	Step 4 – Click ‘Create’ Step 5 – Pick a photo/image to use. *Note: it can be a bmp, jpg, png or even an animated gif. Step 6 – Type the keys that you want to use to bring up the emoticon.  In this case I’ve picked ‘woof’ because it’s a picture of my dog.  *Notes: You can pick any keys you’d like.  Just make sure it’s not something you type too often or it will keep appearing in your sentences. :) When you are done hit OK.
	Step 7 – Now scroll down to see your ‘Custom emoticons’ Step 8 – Your emoticon now shows up and you can use it.
	I open a chat with Dharmesh, since he loves dogs and I send him the emoticon just by typing ‘woof’.  Once it shows up in his conversation window, he can right click and add it to his collection. Have fun.

Thanks for reading.

The Windows Live Messenger Team

Wow, who would have thought that it has been almost 10 years since Messenger was launched. Windows Live Messenger (called MSN Messenger back then) was released to the public on a warm, sunny Seattle day on July 22nd 1999.

With more than 330 million active users every month, Windows Live Messenger has grown quite a bit over the last 10 years! But for a 10 year celebration it’s not all about the numbers – even more important is how Messenger enabled friendships, changed lives or just brought a lot of fun to a quick chat with a good friend or family member.

We want to learn about those very personal stories and moments and we would ask you to share your story with us. What was your funniest, most unexpected or most emotional moment with Messenger? If you have a great story and you would like to share it with others, please send it to us! Please note that we will publish the best anecdotes in our Windows Live Messenger marketing or public relations communications. Of course we will do that anonymously, only mentioning your first name and home country (and maybe a related picture if you decide to add one).

If you want to share your story and let others participate in your special moment with Messenger, please send your short story in English to IloveMessenger@live.com by June 28th. Please add your first name and home country – you can also add a related photo if you like. We will share the best stories during the month of July, right here on the blog.

We’re looking forward to reading your personal Messenger story!

The Windows Live Messenger Team

Disclaimer:

By submitting your Messenger story and/or photo you agree that your entry only includes material that you own, or that you have permission from the copyright/trademark owner to use.  By submitting your entry, you agree to allow your entry, in its entirety, to be exhibited on the internet and in other media, without compensation.  You further agree to allow your first name, likeness and country to be used in connection with your entry, including exhibition on the internet or in other media, without compensation.

Earlier today, Messenger customers may have received an instant message that looked like this:

We sincerely apologize, but this was accidentally sent out.  If you received this notification today, please ignore it.  You will be able to continue to use your current e-mail address, and there is no reason to make any changes.

These service notifications are only used for urgent issues but unfortunately, somebody made a mistake that caused this message to be sent out.  We will definitely be reviewing our process to make sure we avoid such mistakes in the future.

If you have already clicked the link, there is no harm to you.  You should have been told that your “Windows Live ID can’t be changed at this time” because there is no need for the change.

Again, we’re very sorry for any confusion that may have been caused. 

- Windows Live Messenger Team

We all know that it is sometimes difficult to understand the intent of an instant message without hearing the tone or seeing a person's facial expressions.  This is particularly difficult for sarcastic people who have to constantly rely on adding smiley face emoticons to the ends of their sentences.

Automatically determining a user's mood is something we've always heard as being important for Windows Live Messenger but knew that the technology was years away from being ready.  In WLM 2009, we even took a nice first step introducing Dynamic Photos, which let you manually associate a photo with an emoticon/mood.

We're happy to announce that due to the great breakthroughs from Microsoft Research, we have an alpha version working that monitors your real-time physiological state and translates that into a mood (happy, sad, anxious, etc), such that you would never have to enter an emoticon again.  At the core of this technology is the patented Human Attitude Heuristic Algorithm, which uses simple instruments, such as a body heat monitor, webcam and keypad pressure sensor to automatically determine your mood and appropriately insert emoticons/phrases directly into your IM conversations… saving you both time and energy.

Here's an example that currently works on the alpha prototype we have in the lab.  Using facial tracking technology, Messenger would know that you were laughing at a joke and appropriately place an  emoticon into the conversation.  If you stuck out your tongue, we could track that and type a for you.  If you laughed out loud, your laugh would be picked up by the mic on the webcam and immediately the text 'lol' would be inserted.  If your laugh exceeded the threshold of 95 decibels (~Subway Train at 200ft), you would see 'LOL!’ instead.  If you fell out of your chair and were laughing hysterically on the ground… we would insert ‘ROFLMAO’… and so on.

With the special keypad sensor we can also measure the speed and pressure you exert while typing, which can translate into a relaxed or angry state.  The sensor pad has not yet been integrated but you can expect that we'll have a release with full Automatic Mood Detection support, by early April 2010.

Hope you are as excited as I am about this new feature! <- (this was inserted automatically)  Let us know what you think.

[Note added: April 3rd]
Happy April Fools Day!  It was great to see the light hearted responses and also to see that this is a feature that some people might actually like. :)  From now on, only real features will be discussed... until maybe next April 1st. ;)

Thanks,
 
Lonn
Windows Live Messenger Team

We've noticed a few questions from users about the changes to the Sharing Folders functionality in the new version of Windows Live Messenger and thought it was a good time to post a follow-up to our initial December posting.

Background
The Sharing Folders functionality was removed in Windows Live Messenger 2009 and replaced with integrated access to Windows Live SkyDrive.  If you are interested in reading more about the changes, here’s a link to the full post from December: Sharing Files with Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live SkyDrive.

What's different?

• You can now share files in the following ways:
  • Publically
  • Only to pre-defined/custom group of people
  • or just with your contact.

You have full control over the permissions of the file(s) you share.

• In the past, files would only synchronize when both users were online.  Now, when you publish files to Windows Live Skydrive, those files upload right away and are accessible whenever your contact logs in, without having to worry about syncing.
• If you are on vacation or on a computer where Messenger is not installed, as long as you have a web browser and an internet connection you can still sign in with your Live ID and get to your files.

What is the same?
You can still transfer files in real-time with a contact who is online.  That has not changed at all.

What happens to my Sharing Folders when I upgrade to the new Windows Live Messenger?

Nothing, your files will not be deleted or last.  When you upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 2009 you will see a prompt the first time you try to access/view or publish files online explaining the change and a link to your folder.  A shortcut is also created for you, and placed in the Documents folder. If you do not have Sharing Folder files locally on the machine you are signing in on, you will not see a migration dialog.

If you still can't find your files, you can look here:

<AppDataLocal>\Microsoft\Messenger\<User Sign In Email>\Sharing Folders\

For example:
C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Messenger\MyAccount@live.com\Sharing Folders\

If you are still having problems finding your files, make sure that you are actually on the same machine that had the files on them locally.  Several users have mentioned that were still having problems finding their files.  Please keep in mind that, it's likely in this scenario, that the files had never been synchronized to that specific machine, even though you may have had a sharing relationship with that contact.  If that is the case, you'll have to go to the machine that has the files on them locally.

Thanks,
The Windows Live Messenger Team

Dharmesh talks about this in more detail on the Windows Live Team Blog, but I thought it was cool enough for a quick MessengerSays specific post. :)

This week at Mix09 we released the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit which are controls and libraries that connect people who use Windows Live Messenger together no matter where they are from the browser to anywhere Windows Live Messenger runs (PC, Phone, Xbox and Mac).

In other words, we’ve made it very easy to integrate Windows Live Messenger directly into a website using only a few lines of javascript.  Not only does this help make the surfing experience more social, it means that as long as you have a web browser and internet connection, you can still have a great Windows Live Messenger experience.

Here’s a screenshot of the web bar.  You’ll notice that your full contact list and categories are available, you can chat with multiple people at once and you have all your favorite emoticons handy.

The team has done a great job with this and I predict that we will begin to see this toolkit being used on more and more websites going forward.

There is a lot more information on the Messenger Developer blog and I encourage you to head over there if you’d like to learn more about how to add this to your site.

Lastly, here’s a video of Keiji and Steve on stage at Mix09.  Where they show how to add IM to a site with the Windows Live Messenger Library and UI Controls.  We also have an Interactive SDK which allows you to code and learn at the same time.

Have fun with it.
Lonn
Windows Live Messenger

Last week, 1500 of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) from around the world descended on Microsoft Campus, here in Redmond, Washington, for the annual MVP Summit. Among those were MVPs on technologies ranging from .NET and Silverlight, to Zune and Windows Live.

Taken from the MVP site:

Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) are exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who are awarded for voluntarily sharing their high quality, real world expertise in offline and online technical communities. Microsoft MVPs are a highly select group of experts that represents the technical community's best and brightest, and they share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

The Windows Live Messenger team held several sessions with Windows Live MVPs throughout the week to hear their thoughts on the latest version and anything else that was on their mind.  We had some great discussions and appreciate the preparation that the MVPs did in advance to help facilitate productive meetings.

After a breakout session on Wednesday afternoon, we were able to sit a few of them down in a room and catch some of their comments on video. Here's a video of our quick chat with Jonathan (Canada), Kurt (Belgium) and Chris (Netherlands).

The level of dedication and passion these guys have for the product is only out matched by their passion to help people. On behalf of Windows Live we thank Jonathan, Kurt, Chris and all the other Windows Live MVPs for the great work they do.  If you are a passionate user and love to help people, you can learn more about the MVP program here: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/.

Sincerely,

- Lonn, Sameer, Marisol
- Windows Live Messenger

p.s. Sameer and Marisol have a cameo in the video… ‘Hi’ :)

The latest version of Windows Live Messenger (14.0.8064.0206) is now available for free download here.

Over the next month, if you’re still running versions 8.1 or 8.5, you’ll get a prompt encouraging you to upgrade to the latest version of Windows Live Messenger. If you accept the optional upgrade, the installer will launch and start your free upgrade.

While Messenger is installing, you’ll be given the option to install other new applications that are part of our suite of Windows Live Essentials. You can click each program to get more info about it before you decide which ones you want, but they’re all great additions to your Windows PC, and they are all free.

And if you already have older versions of any of these programs installed (ex. Windows Live Mail, Photo Gallery, or Toolbar), they’ll be automatically upgraded to their latest versions along with Messenger.

There are tons of new features and improvements in the new, 2009 version, and we really hope you’ll try it out. From improved video and audio calls, to new “favorite” contacts, dynamic display pictures, and a fast and easy new way to share photos, we’ve worked hard to bring you the best release of Windows Live Messenger yet. So good that it got the Editor’s Choice Award from PC Magazine!  If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this demo of the new version of Messenger:

Try it out and let us know what you think, either here in comments, or through our feedback site at http://feedback.live.com.

All the best,
- Sameer, Lonn and the Windows Live Team

P.S. If you have difficulty signing in to Messenger after the upgrade, please visit http://messenger-support.spaces.live.com/.
For help with webcam connectivity in Messenger, see this blog post: http://messenger-support.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8B3F39C76A8B853F!14323.entry

Posted by Sameer

Some users seem to be getting an error 8100030d when they try signing into Windows Live Messenger, in some cases after they have upgraded to the latest version. This error can be caused if the cache files get corrupted and the solution is to simply delete the cache.

Click the following link for complete troubleshooting instructions for this error http://messenger-support.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8B3F39C76A8B853F!13937.entry. (Special thanks to Jonathan)

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

View Full Album

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

 posted by Sameer.

Some beta users seem to be getting an error 810003c1 when they try to login to Messenger. This error can be caused if the region setting for your account is not set. If you are seeing this error, please go to https://account.live.com/EditProf.aspx and make sure the Country/Region field is set correctly to your own country.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

  posted by Ellen

Hi Messenger Friends,

Let me introduce myself, I’m Ellen and I work in the Windows Live Marketing team. As you can imagine, I’m one of several lucky people that get to work on promoting a really fun product. And today, I get to talk about one of the great things on Messenger by being a guest blogger.

One of Messenger’s features is back - you can now call your contacts on their landline and mobile phones from your PC using Telefonica’s Voype Web Calling Service. Telefonica is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world. And by partnering with them, we’ve been to obtain a great deal for you and provide you with really low phone rates. In the coming weeks, we will also be launching this feature in the following countries for the first time: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

You can now call all your friends and family globally at really low rates. It’s approximately a penny to China, 2¢ to the UK, 5¢ to Canada, or 10¢ to Mexico per minute when calling landlines. So when your friends are offline and you really need to have a conversation with them or just need to hear their voice, you don’t even need to think twice and worry about the cost.

I’m pretty excited to try this feature out next week. My friend Heather is leaving this weekend to go backpacking around Asia. I’m already planning to call her using Messenger so that I can hear her stories as they happen. I can call her on her mobile phone and I don’t have to worry about my phone bill or using my cell phone minutes! Actually, you can call anyone – they don’t have to be a Messenger contact – you can call your grandma to say hi, call into your conference call meetings, or just even order pizza! Maybe not from China but you get the point! J

All you have to do is sign-up for an account here, a microphone & speakers or headset and broadband connection. And buy credit in amounts of $5, $10 or $20.

To make a call in Messenger, it will depend on what version you have.

If you are using Windows Live Messenger 8.0, 8.1 or 8.5, just click on the phone icon either in the main window or choose a contact and click on the phone icon. From the drop down menu, select ‘Call a phone’. Add a phone number, click on enter and start talking! You’re all set. It’s that easy.

If you are already using the new Windows Live Messenger beta, there are a few of ways you can make a call. You can hover over a contact and if you have a phone associated with that contact, just click on ‘call work’, ‘call mobile’, etc. You can also open up a conversation window with that contact and click on the phone icon and enter their telephone number. For ad hoc calls, you can launch Windows Live Call from the start menu under All Programs > Windows Live Call beta, enter their telephone number and click Call. Choose whichever way is most convenient for you!

Posted by Brian

An issue has been discovered in the current Windows Live Messenger beta that may leave users unable to sign-in.  Only a very small number of users may encounter this issue but wanted to proactively message this to the community.

To avoid the issue yourself, please DO NOT block a group and then leave the group. If you plan to leave a group, please unblock it first. Following this precaution will ensure that you will not be affected by this issue.

We are currently working hard to fix the problem and allow those customers who have been affected to once again sign-in to the Messenger beta.

Thank you for your time and for participating in the beta!  We will post more information about this issue when it becomes available.

Thanks,
Brian

   posted by Steven

Hi everyone, last week was a bit quiet on the blog as the team has been working hard on the feedback we’ve been receiving.  Thanks for taking the time to post your comments, it’s appreciated.

I’ve received a number of requests to write a post explaining what Groups are and how best to use them. I thought I’d just respond to some of the questions we’ve received.

What are groups and what can I do with them?

Windows Live Groups are persistent groups that are membership-based. Someone creates a group and invites people they know to it. When you get invited to a group you receive a pop-up in Messenger, similar to when someone adds you as a contact.

You can choose to join the group or decline if you don’t want to receive IMs from the group. When you join a group it appears in your main window inside of a category called “Groups”.  To see the members of the group you can expand the group, look at the roster and see the status of everyone who is available, busy or offline.

To IM the group simply double click on the group name. This opens a conversation window with the people who are online from that group. Just like in a regular IM, if you start typing and send IMs other people in the group will receive a toast or at least a flashing notification in their task bar. When they open the conversation window they can see who is participating in the conversation.

How big can a group get?

Groups in Messenger are limited to 20 or fewer people. When more than 2 people are online the group lights up green in your main window. You can then click on it to start a group conversation.

What is the difference between a group and a category?

For quite a while Messenger has allowed you to categorize your contacts into lists called “Groups”. This made it easy to find someone quickly when you have a huge contact list. These “Groups” were personal to you alone, a kind of “tag” if you will (Family, Friends, Co-Workers). Interestingly we found that most users either don’t like the old “groups” view and rather use the View by Status option, or never bother to create custom lists to tag their contacts. Now don’t worry we didn’t remove “groups” but we did rename them to “Categories”.  We needed to do this to make room for the new Groups which are permanent and shared collections of people that can chat with each other. You can create group from an existing category. Just right-click on the category and select “Convert to group”. This will create a new group with that list of people pre-populated into the group invite wizard. The category remains as well in your contact list.

What are examples of groups I might create?

Groups are best for people that know each other in real life, online or offline. I’ve seen groups created for a variety of purposes like working groups, family members, social cliques, book clubs, soccer teams... Where I work, I’ve created a group for my team of program managers, for people working on the beta program and one for the lead developer and tester I work closely with. I’ve also created groups for my family and when Messenger gets out there a bit more I plan on creating one for the parents of my daughter’s classmates, a book club I belong to and some friends of mine that go biking on the weekends.

You see Groups are also a great way to segment your contact list by how you partition what you share online. For instance, my wife wants one place where anyone who is “family” can come and view our photos. I want one way to quickly talk to the people on my team – its great for quick IMs like:  “who is ready to go to lunch” or "can someone send out notes from that meeting…”.

What do I need to participate in a group?

All you need is the latest version of Messenger and a Windows Live ID. When you get invited to a group it will appear in your main window… click on it to open a conversation window and start IM’ing. Or expand the group and click on a member and you’ll start a conversation with just them.

What if I am too busy to participate in a group conversation?

If you don’t want to participate in IM right then but don’t want to miss anything just close the window and you’ll continue to receive the messages as long as you are signed on. When you are ready to participate open the window with the group by clicking on it from the main window and you’ll see the conversation that went on in your absence. Remember this only works if you are online to receive the messages in the background.

A quick simple video on how to create a group.  Thanks to Brian for whipping this up.

And now a question for you

This is our V1 of groups and I am really excited about what groups could be down the road. We have a lot of ideas but I’d love to hear what you are creating groups for and what types of activities you think Messenger should do for groups in the future. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy groups!

-Steven and Brian

p.s. We have noticed a few questions about Sharing Folders and will be posting more on this topic next week.

  posted by Tolga

I just received a call from a friend who wants to give feedback on PC-to-PC Voice Call feature of Messenger. He told me that he called his parents in Pakistan who are on a dial-up (56k) connection, and he says in less than 3 seconds he was listening to his parent’s voice. Wahoo!! That’s awesome feedback!

Hello I am Tolga, Program Manager for the Voice and Video features of Windows Live Messenger. I work with a small group of individuals whose mission is to connect people and provide high quality communication experiences on any network around the world. It is a sometimes tough and challenging job but is still a lot of fun, as we have a great team.

We have made quite a few improvements under the hood over the last year. If you downloaded our latest beta (download.live.com) and are having voice or video calls with other beta users then you have already experienced them first hand.

Faster Call Connect Time.  This would be the first thing that you’ll notice when you call a friend using our latest Windows Live Messenger. You will be connected and talking in less time than ever before! Not only that but we’ve done quite a bit to improve the sound clarity and video sharpness in addition to adding higher resolution video modes (if your hardware and connection supports it). We believe you’ll be quite happy with the improvements our team has made here.

As hardware technology advanced, so did we: If you have a dual core PC, recent webcam and fast broadband connection; you will benefit more from Full Screen Video Call. Because if you have a dual core PC, and you switch to full screen during  your video call; it will be upgraded to High Quality Video Call.

(I’ve circled the ‘Switch to full-screen view’ button in RED.)

Quality of your voice or video calls depend on many factors including;

• Available processing power of your PC to Windows Live Messenger: Messenger uses real time encoding and decoding engine for your voice and video communications. The higher the processing power the better the quality of the image you send and you see.
• Available bandwidth to Windows Live Messenger: Real time encoded streams need to travel between two PCs; and higher the bandwidth faster these streams travel and hence you will have better motion picture.
• Webcam: Not every webcam is the same. The kind of lens; the circuitry they have and the driver of webcam makes difference in quality. And you can always have better quality with up-to-date drivers of you webcam and headset.

We have worked on determining situations which may have a negative effect on the quality of your communications. If Messenger notices such a situation; it takes action; such as tweaking image resolution a little bit; so that frame rate (hence the motion) and voice quality stays the same.

As a team we’d love to hear your feedback on the new voice and video calls. Please let us know and give us feedback about your experience. Get your friends and families on Beta and call them. We would be more than happy to hear your feedback. Thank you!

PS. Thanks to Aleks for his smile to the camera.