Messenger 8
Of course that should be “Windows Live Messenger”
The release of the much beta’d Windows Live Messenger is now available from the MSN Messenger website - and very pretty it is too…
However, I can’t really see what makes it so much better than 7… all the “little annoyances” are still there - including the “tabs” configuration - it’s “all or nothing” - I can’t just show a few tabs, I have to have the ones I’m never going to use, as well as the ones I want. Come on guys, how long is it going to take for this to be put right!
Removed since Beta 2 and never reinstated was the “rollover” expanding of contact details - shame really, I liked that - again, it’s either no details, or show all the details for everyone.
Of course, there are quick links to the new features of Spaces, Phone Calls and MSN Today (which, again, I’m never likely to use, so why can’t I hide them?)
I suppose I just want something that lets me chat to my friends online (sometimes with my webcam or headset), without trying to sell me Sky TV, VOIP phone services (why, Messenger can make video calls already on it’s own!), sign me up to a social network, sell me Dating and Personal services, animated icons, animated backgrounds, lottery tickets, whatever “Meegos” are, provide paid music downloads, mobile ringtones and something called “insider club”
Of the tabs that are available (17 by my count - there’s a scroll button there are so many of them), I can only see myself using the National Lottery, eBay and Contact List ones, and if it worked with Firefox, the Live Bookmarks functions - but I don’t becuase I have to have all the others displayed, and there’s no way to sort them, so the ones I want are at the top, or ideally, the only ones available.
Microsoft could have done so much better… (and yes, before you ask, I did submit the “hiding tabs” request to the Beta suggestions)
Here’s hopeing the much awaited new version of Messenger Plus can resolve some of these problems!
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Tom,
You might want to try A-Patch from http://apatch.ikhost.com/
It can remove all the advertising from the contact list and message windows - it’ll also let you remove the MSN Today, etc. buttons that you’re never going to use.
Very useful for clearing up the interface a bit (and means you can see more contacts at once without scrolling).
I’m not sure Messenger Plus will let you remove the ads, they removed it from the versions for Messengers 7/7.5 due to it being unfair on MSN or something.
Chris.
It’s fixed a lot of the problems with the release version - but it unfortunately can’t fix the tabs problem… I suspect a mere patch can’t fix it…