At the time of writing WLM or Windows Live Messenger 8 is the latest incarnation of the ever popular Microsoft Web Messenger client, to read more about other versions such as AOL and Yahoo messenger clients check out our other pages, links at the bottom of page.
Compared to the older versions WLM Windows Live Messenger 8 is reported to be the next generation of MSN messenger, but what makes it different from its predecessors?
It still has all the functionality we expect from MSN web messenger , such as the contact list, chat, file transfer, voice and video capabilities, plus love them or hate them the emoticons.
Folder Sharing
In addition to this we now have folder sharing, which is an alternative to simply transferring files, this enables us to synchronize files between 2 or more locations, and any files copied to the shared location are synchronized when online, so changes are replicated along with file deletions.
For extra security, as sharing folders can expose machines to potential viruses the feature is bundled with anti-virus software, and it can only be shared on systems with NTFS hard drives.
PC to Phone Calling
Apart from calling computer to computer, we now have the extra option to call computer to landline and mobile phones at a fraction of the price of normal phone costs, at present calling is available from the US and most of Europe, but check status with your provider beforehand.
Compatibility with Yahoo Messenger
it’s been a long time in the pipeline, but now compatibility between WLM Windows Live Messenger 8 and Yahoo messenger is working, this means you only have to have an account with one or the other, older versions of both clients will only see each other as offline. This means we’re only waiting for AOL to join the party, no news on this as yet.
Utilities and Games
There have always been third party games available to play over the web, so it kinda makes sense that we can now play games over messenger , just click the games icon and your set to go.
Send Offline Messages
you can now send messages to offline contacts, if their status is set to offline or they are completely logged out of MSN one way or another they will still receive the message.
Im Initiative
Nice little touch by Microsoft here, Setup in March of 2007, allows users to connect to 9 organizations dedicated to social causes, every time you begin a conversation with I’m your favourite causes receive a portion of the advertising revenue, which apparently will be a minimum of 100k, and there is no maximum. Only works with WLM Windows Live Messenger 8 or above
Xbox 360 Messenger
already included in the later generation of Xbox’s , allows us to see the Gamer Tags of friends logged into messenger, plus the game that they are playing, you can also chat in game, although many games also offer this. On the whole we’ve found it to be a professional silky smooth messenger client, none of the glitchy timeouts or hard to configure video calling of previous versions, with a lot of extra features.
We’ve included the major new extras above, but there are also a number of small items worth noting such as..
- The display picture is now stored on the server, so no matter where you login you’ll still have the same image.
- Word wheel search in contacts.
- The entire client app can now be given a colour scheme.
- Nicknames can be changed at to appear differently to what the contact has set.
- Time stamping of messages from contacts.
checkout our other articles Computer adviser WLM Windows Live Messenger 8 article