An Apple a day…
June 1, 2007 on 7:54 am | In Mac version | 48 Comments
I sat down with Matthew Skyrm, Senior Director of Product Management for Messenger. Alongside his duties running the Windows clients, he’s also the head honcho for the Mac version. I gave him my best “Puss-‘n-Boot” eyes and said “Matthew, the Mac natives are restless and I need some Mac material, news, anything.” OK, it didn’t go down like that – it was less dramatic and took place in a windowless conference room. But I did get some good info from him and our first Messenger for Mac post is here 
. There’s a little something for everyone – a couple of tips and some news about the next Beta…
First the tips… I asked Matthew about his favorite gems in the Mac version. Without hesitation, he started explaining the Command + N keyboard shortcut. When you hit this while you’re in Messenger for Mac, a contact search box appears and you can type in any part of a contact’s name to quickly find them and IM. While there’s also a Message button at the bottom of the Messenger List window, this lets you keyboard lovers run at full speed.
“Ok, that’s a good timesaver but what else you got?” This next one was cool – I had seen it before but since I spend my days on a PC, I hadn’t made use of it. There’s a feature built into the Mac version that lets you create a display image using your webcam. Use your built-in iSight camera or any other webcam that’s connected. Suddenly imitating emoticons with my face and sticking them into my display image became very entertaining… To access this, go into Preferences and click on Display Image.
Matthew also showed me some deeper personalization you can do in the Mac version around friend alerts. You can assign different alert behaviors and even sounds for different friends. So if you have a special friend and you always want to know when he or she comes online, you can tell Messenger for Mac to play a custom sound (choose one or upload your own) and even bounce the Messenger dock icon.
“Yeah, yeah, great Sarah. What about the next Beta?” Isn’t it amazing how I can read your thoughts? 
. While Matthew doesn’t yet have a firm date for the next release, he did confirm a couple of the new features that will be in it. As we mentioned in an earlier post, chat rooms will make their debut in the next Beta. The new version will also offer tabbed conversations (woo hoo!). Plus, conversation archiving will be available and will be searchable from Spotlight. So the next time you can’t recall whether your friend sent you their phone number over IM or email, you can just run a Spotlight search to quickly find out.
Stay tuned to the blog for future news on the next Yahoo! Messenger for Mac Beta.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
Yea!!!!!!!!!
Some news for us poor Mac users.
Alex
Comment by Alex Rodriguez — June 1, 2007 #
I changed my option to do not change status when playing Yahoo music and my commentes were removed.
Comment by Jim Vaglia — June 1, 2007 #
Respect
Thanks for giving us something to chew on for a little while.
Okay so as promised, Beta 2 will have:
- voice (it says on main page)
- offline messages in one window
- archive
- tabs (GREAT)
- Chat rooms
We hope for Beta 3 or RC1:
)
- improved file transfer (most windows users have problems sending files to us – tested on more computers)
- photo sharing (oh please oh pleaseee!!!)
- more options (disable avatars in a conversation, customizing the contact list, advanced Get Info window – i need to set a nickname from it… and more
Hey guys add to the list something you think would be nice. And please give some feedback on what you think about my feature requests
About Beta 2 . .make it be June or July . . .or earlier
beta is okay to have bugs.
You can release 10 betas no problem if it has bugs or something. you can release “nightly builds” every few weeks for people who are willing to test and give feedback. .. Like me
Okay THANKS again for your efforts, Sarah. I’m starting to think that we finally get some attention.
Thanks,
Lucky
Comment by Lucky — June 1, 2007 #
I think I’ll file this with the announcement back in January of the new Messenger for Vista. I am one of those hapless souls that has both a laptop with Vista AND a Mac. No offense Sarah, but your blogs are entertaining to read, but side-step all the real news that people are eager to hear. You should work for the government.
Comment by Robin — June 1, 2007 #
Yawn.. what a wait! and still no significant update or cross platform (msn) reliability. A very poor show so far, better get your act together or google will pass you by as usual.
Comment by Simon Fuller — June 1, 2007 #
I think this is great for Mac users.
As a PC user [getting a mac for x-mas] I think that the mac yahoo looks so better when the pc ones lol.. the style and all. but these new features sure look like they can help the mac users alot.
But.. when are you all going to work on the yahoo for windows vista. I think you should post something telling people when your expected to get the beta out for that.
Comment by Ryan — June 1, 2007 #
If any communications application like Yahoo! Messenger wants to stay relevent, I think they’ll need to keep adding cutting edge technologies to stay ahead.
Some that come to mind…
1. Answering machine like Skype for Yahoo! Voice, its the only way to know how bady is your ISP blocking Voice chats.
2. Voice / Text chat encryption for privacy like Skype.
3. Native VoIP call recording.
4. Online archives – Voice / Text chat – Opt in of course.
5. Customzed ‘contact online alert’ ringtones like mobiles – Difference being you can accept what your contact has set, so when he sets a new tone, you get a warning, do you want to accept your contact’s personlized alert? All disabled by default of course.
5 for the future!
Muzammil
Comment by Muzammil — June 2, 2007 #
I would love a good version for linux, does anyone have any ideea about that?
Comment by CosminG — June 2, 2007 #
woo hoo!
)))))))))))
Comment by irene — June 2, 2007 #
Lady_Eclipsa posted in Romanian what would sound in english like this:
Big souls have “the guts”,
Poor sould only wish
(the guts = i forgot the english word for that one
)
Yahoo you should really delete all the Spam posts. .. Now
Comment by Lucky — June 2, 2007 #
VISTA! You already have more users on Vista than you do on Mac, and still you’re screwing us around with your crappy 8.1 version. This is why you are so far behind Google despite having a huge head-start!
Comment by Bob — June 3, 2007 #
The issue with file transfers may be related to the issue with thread stability during a text conversation. It drops unexpectedly. It could be either the client OR the server side – who knows?
I see YOU use WordPress.
Comment by Bob Boynton — June 3, 2007 #
Alright there mister Yahoo Messenger Guy….Heres what I want to know. How on gods green earth are all of you STILL working on a Beta version of YIM for Vista. The Vista beta came out a year and a half ago and now Vista itself has been out for 6 flippin months…..What do they do in there, drink coffee and play video games and work on their breaks? Lets get real here. I know, maybe just some kind of info to let us know a legitimate time table….that would be nice.
Comment by Aaron — June 3, 2007 #
Why can’t anyone read that Messenger for Vista would be out in the second quarter of this year. This is the last month of the second quarter.
If you look you would find out what you want to know. http://news.com.com/Yahoo+optimizes+Messenger+for+Vista/2100-1032_3-6147793.html?tag=st_lh
Comment by Booger — June 3, 2007 #
Hey Booger, we’re not stupid. We KNOW what Yahoo said about when Messenger for Vista is being released. What irks those that have been faithful readers of this blog is the total lack of information from Yahoo SINCE that first announcement. Here’s a site for YOU to find what YOU’RE looking for…….hmmmmm…on second thought I won’t post it.
Comment by Robin — June 3, 2007 #
Robin,
I would be interested in knowing more about when the Messenger for Vista will be out.
I agree, the lack, of information does suck.
Comment by Jason — June 3, 2007 #
This is getting pretty damn off-topic. Finally a post dedicated to Mac users and all you Windows users gotta freak out with Vista. Dam it.
(Yeah, I can’t wait either … for both of them
)
Comment by Lucky — June 4, 2007 #
Hi Jim. Photos i received. Thanks
Comment by Bill Compton — June 4, 2007 #
this is a message for thunderbird: the eagle has landed. i repeat: the eagle has landed.
over.
Comment by irene — June 4, 2007 #
Dear Yahoo designers,
I am so glad you let us try the new IM before downloading it.
I am sorry to say it but i HATE the new page layout and will not ever want to use it.
Thank you for the old layout that i hope you do not change.
Comment by Rick — June 5, 2007 #
Chatrooms and archiving are critical additions. Further critical point: Make sure the archive-file format is cross-platform, to make PC-to-Mac client migration possible. I want my Mac client to be able to read the archives built up on my PC. Thanks.
Comment by Joaquín — June 5, 2007 #
this a high security
good luck
Comment by test man — June 6, 2007 #
Development of Yahoo! Messenger for Mac is extremely slow and lacks so many features compared to Windows version. If Yahoo! really wants to reach the top of IM apps you really need to get to work otherwise MSN will keep the crown.
Comment by Danijel — June 7, 2007 #
Why dont web cams work on the mac version now? When beta first came out they worked now they dont. When someone tries to let me view their cam nothing shows up on my side, not even a box to accept their cam. I have tried downloading beta many times months apart but still no update. I have sent emails to yahoo asking what was going on but never get an answer from yahoo.
Comment by jeff — June 8, 2007 #
Important question! Will the new audio feature in next Mac beta work with video at same time for true iChat like video conferencing? I have heard rumors that we won’t be able to have real video conferencing like we can in Skype or iChat.
Instead we will have audio only or video only but not both together. If that is true, that would really suck.
Next question, video quality. In current Yahoo beta 1 I can use the webcam feature and see other people’s cam as well, but the quality is unbelievably poor. Very small window and low fps. Reminds me of Cuseeme in late 90’s. With iChat or Skype I can view full screen and get very fast fps, over 20 and that is with audio as well. Is Yahoo working to improve your video codec to be in the same league as other programs? By the way, to you Windows users, what is your video quality like now?
P.S. most of the new features you mentioned like command+n, take a webcam display image, alert behaviors are not new! We can already do that on beta 1! Only in the last paragraph where you mentioned tabs, archives, chat rooms did you mention new features.
Comment by Alan — June 9, 2007 #
The beta looks sweet!! Especially the support for webcam … now just to wait for audio support too. I have a bug to report about the Beta 1 Release 4. I could not find a link to fill out a bug report so here it is – the messages in the conversation window scroll to the top every time a new message is received. This can get really annoying when you are having lengthy conversations. Can I change some thing in the preferences to take care of this issue? I did not notice this in the earlier release of Beta 1.
All in all … the interface looks very appealing and very OS X -ish. Looking forward to the final release!
Comment by Bobby — June 12, 2007 #
Its good news that Yahoo! is offering at least something to the Mac users. Even though they might be small features Mac users won’t loose heart about their Yahoo Messenger for Mac. Get the new version out soon to “keep” your users. Almost everyone is realizing that multiple platform support is going to be the the key in future. Look Apple came out with Safari for Windows…. you can do the same with Messenger. Good luck.
Comment by Boney — June 12, 2007 #
Oh, and please remove the Yahoo messenger for Unix page. The builds are from the last century of the cyber world. Even third party clients give better performance than those builds these days.
Comment by Boney — June 12, 2007 #
halleluah… thank you thank you…
i am so sick of using adium…
and the very selfish Y! user that i am, do we get
a) improved file transfer
b) archiving
c) audibles ( pls pls pls)
Comment by gyaanzz — June 14, 2007 #
TODAY READING YAHOO VISTA WILL BE FOR YOU IN NOVEMBER 2007 SO YOU WAIT AND GO TO OTHER PLACES WHILE YAHOO GET RUN MORE BY HACKERS AND KEEP YAHOO OPEN FOR HACKER YAHOO LIKES YOU REINSTALL WINDOWS FOR HACKING
Comment by Lance — June 16, 2007 #
Something has changed with Yahoo! Messenger Beta 1… suddenly the scrolling isn’t working properly, new incoming messages are not automatically scrolling the window to display the message… the scroll bar is present and I can move it down but this should be happening automatically!
Help!
Comment by Chad — June 18, 2007 #
Voice support is highly appreciated! Keep up the good work and release it soon so all will be happy
Comment by Bazzoola@yahoo.com — June 20, 2007 #
At the demand of many chat users… (mainly myself), I had to rewrite the audio conferencing software in .net to enable it to work in vista. I have had a mass amount of users downloading it. It works with Yahoo! Messenger and with the exception of a few beta related errors has been a perfect substitute for the absense of voice chat within the chat rooms. I wanted to know if there is someone at Yahoo I could contact to coordinate efforts with.
Sincerely,
Acyn
PS: Please feel free to try this application (http://home.ca.rr.com/torabisystems/)
Comment by Acyn — June 26, 2007 #
I hope the Final release comes reaaallll soon.
I also am wondering, why exactly is it taking so long for you people up there at Yahoo! to develop things at extended periods of times.. I mean, like, Skype can release a new build every two months or so.. And Adium is really doing well. I mean for a multi IM application of course..
Comment by David — June 26, 2007 #
Does anyone have a problem when chatting the chat window goes to the beginning of the page instead of the end. It is kind of annoying to keep scrolling down to the bottom each time. Anyone know how to fix this?
It would be nice to see a Beta 2 soon and a final release by the Fall. Can we have picture sharing one of the features I loved with the Windows version.
Comment by Mark — June 28, 2007 #
Woooot? It’s july… aren’t you calendars up to date there?
Where’s beta 2?
Comment by radu — July 4, 2007 #
my messenger keeps scrolling up as well, driving me nuts, anyone know how to change this?
Comment by flakyjake40 — July 12, 2007 #
Those of you having trouble with getting the files from friends with PC messenger is due to permissions, make sure you are saving to a location that doesnt require authorization because Mac messenger will not ask you to get permission. Also please visit my website to download Charla 4, it will let you use chat as well as have a basic messenger. Chitchat does not work due to YCHT protocol but Charla will since it can use YMSG.
http://geocities.com/bad_bad_sloar/
Comment by Sloar — July 19, 2007 #
Any ideas when the new version will be out?
Comment by Mark — July 27, 2007 #
Same problem here, window keeps popping to the top of the conversation so I have to scroll down all the time. Very annoying. Any way around it? On Mac OSX.
Comment by Andrew — August 4, 2007 #
Any chance to release just a quick update on “history / chat logs”?
(We all know the last updated YM client for mac was 2 centuries ago).
Comment by Felix — August 13, 2007 #
It seemed like the Mac update was around the corner based on prior posts. I would also like to know when we will be expecting the new update.
Comment by Mark — August 19, 2007 #
Ok, so it has been months since the last “beta” when is the final gold master coming?
What is the hold up really?
Windows is updated on a weekly basis it seems.
Why so slow on the mac… really, cmon.
Comment by Mike — August 27, 2007 #
The scrolling issue is due to the new WebKit installed with Safari 3 beta. Uninstall Safari 3 (check the original DMG file) and the scrolling problem will go away.
Please, oh please… Yahoo! Try to bring the Mac version into feature parity with the Windows version. This is not a capability issue, this is a programming issue. There is no reason why the Mac version can’t have feature parity with the Windows version.
There also seems to be a crashing problem with the latest beta based on corrupted webcam images from a problematic Internet connection. Could you make that a bit more robust? A single corrupt image causes YM to crash.
-Aaron-
Comment by Aaron — August 28, 2007 #
….hmmm…… wonder if we’re ever getting an update……
perhaps now that the chat room issue is fixed for windows users, they could throw out something for mac users….. *sigh*
Comment by gail — August 29, 2007 #
Well, it has not been 3 months since these hints of the new beta. Still no new beta. Come on already! The natives are getting more than restless!
Comment by mdc — September 1, 2007 #
Why is the Mac version basically broken now and in no sight of being fixed? Can’t add new contacts is a BIG issue. And an annoying contact wants to add you to their list and when I click deny, the program reboots and loops, then when I click allow it reboots and then lets me into the program where I can’t add anyone new. Uninstalled the app, and all of the preferences and still, same result. This is the posted ‘beta’ app. OUCH.
Also, your feedback form does NOT work at all, When you go to type something to feedback, there’s no text box to type in. Nice way to ensure that nobody feedsback about a substandard product.
How about letting some of us LONGTIME beta testers bang on the next version of this sometime soon. Been using Mac’s since they first shipped.
Michael Murdock, CEO
DocMurdock.com
Comment by Michael Murdock — September 4, 2007 #
Glad to see the Mac version of software coming along. It’s getting better. Allowing us to change theme as you can in Windows would be cool. Is that possible with OSX or are you fixed into their theme? Am wondering about that.
Other than that…nice job, stability is better for me and that’s something I really appreciate.
Keep up the good work folks and if you want a new CEO with a passion for your company, tell the Board to hire me:
http://www.docmurdock.com/yahoo.htm
Mike
Comment by Michael Murdock — January 2, 2009 #