December 7, 2007 on 11:39 am | In Vista version | 55 Comments
Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview is now available for users who are running a 64-bit version of Vista. Please go and download the latest version from our website (build 2007.12.06.421).
Thanks to everyone for your input on the feedback form and here on the blog regarding the issue. Who knew there were so many 64-bit Vista users out there? 
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
December 5, 2007 on 9:00 pm | In Vista version | 171 Comments
It’s here! It’s really here! We’re thrilled to bring you the preview version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista, the first Yahoo! Messenger built from the ground up for the Windows Vista operating system. This is your chance to try it out and give us your feedback to help make the next version even better.
This is a preview version only (pre-beta) so not everything is in here that you might be used to seeing in other versions of Yahoo! Messenger. Here’s a list of the features included today:
- Entirely new interface that harnesses the power of WPF, the graphics subsystem in Windows Vista
- Organize your conversations into tabs, or drag and drop a tab out to create a new window
- Keep up with your favorite contacts by dragging them into the Windows Sidebar gadget
- Send enhanced emoticons that have some extra oomph
- Change the color of your IM windows with a built-in skin chooser. Go crazy with a different skin for every IM window!
- Adjust the display size of your contacts with a handy slider
- Arrange your contact list into multiple columns just by resizing your window
- Send instant messages to your Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts
- Send files to friends as large as 2 GB
- Find contacts quickly with the contact search bar. Type in a few letters of the contact’s name or ID and they’ll come up in filtered results.
- As-you-type spell checker that’s smart enough to know that “LOL” is not something to correct
- A preferences menu you can access by right-clicking anywhere at the top of the main Messenger window
Check out the screencast to see Yahoo! Messenger for Vista Preview up close (alternate hi quality version):
If you are already running Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0 on your Vista PC, you can continue to use it. Messenger for Vista will be installed to a different directory so you can launch one version or the other depending on what you need. Note that Yahoo! Messenger for Vista can only be installed on a Windows Vista operating system.
Many familiar features are not in this preview: voice, webcam, chat rooms, text messaging to mobile phones (SMS), IMVironments, Audibles, plug-ins, photo sharing (though you can send photos via file transfer) and conferencing. We’ll be working on many of these features and 64-bit Vista support for our next releases [64-bit available as of 12/7].
We know it’s been a long wait for Yahoo! Messenger for Vista and we can’t thank you enough for your patience. We really want your feedback on this preview version, so please use our feedback form to let us know what you like, what you don’t like, and which features you’d like to see next.
To keep up with the latest updates and news on Yahoo! Messenger for Vista, please join our Yahoo! Group.
What are you waiting for? Download it now!
Josh Jacobson
Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Messenger for Vista
P.S. – Congrats to the Messenger for Vista team on the launch! Here are some photos from our launch event tonight (thanks Jeremy!).
