Yahoo! Messenger

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Yahoo! Messenger 7.5 Contact List under Windows
Developer:	Yahoo!
Latest release:	8.1.0.209 (Windows)/3.0b1 (Mac) / December 4, 2006
OS:	Windows 98/Me, 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, Mac OS 8, Unix
Use:	VoIP/Instant messaging client
License:	Proprietary freeware
Website:	messenger.yahoo.com

Yahoo! Messenger is a popular instant messaging client and protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! offers PC to PC telephone, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories.

In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ, it also offers (on Microsoft Windows) many unique features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows), address-book integration and Custom Status Messages. It was also the first major IM client to feature offline-messaging, BUZZing, music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars.

However, some of these features are not available on other platforms, such as Mac OS X.

Yahoo! Messenger 2.5.3 for Mac, released in 2003, is the current stable version for Mac, and offers drastically fewer features than the Windows release. It has been reported to be quite buggy when run on the latest version of Mac OS X, and it is very primitive when compared to other messenging applications for Macintosh. However, in June of 2006, Messenger for Mac 3.0b1 was released as a beta, with a final version due later. This beta has a modernized interface when compared to the 2003 application which includes Avatars and display image viewing, BUZZ facility, and other similar features with the Yahoo! Messenger in Windows. However, it is still lacking advanced features like PC-to-PC call and address book capabilities.

Yahoo! has announced a partnership with Microsoft to join their instant messaging networks. This would make Yahoo! Messenger compatible with Microsoft's .NET Messenger Service. It also made Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger compatible with Yahoo!'s Network. This change has taken effect as of July 13, 2006, - Yahoo! Messenger has integrated instant messaging with Windows Live Messenger users, and is fully functional.

British Telecommunications' BT Communicator software is based on Yahoo! Messenger. BT Communicator will be withdrawn on 31st December 2006. ^[1]

1 Features
2 Latest Releases
3 Feature & Release History
- 3.1 Windows
- 3.2 Mac
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Features

[edit] Plug-ins

As of 8.0, Yahoo! Messenger has added the ability for users to create plug-ins (via the use of the freely available Yahoo! Messenger Plug-in SDK), which are then hosted and showcased on the Yahoo! Plug-in gallery.

[edit] Yahoo! Mail integration

On November 9, 2006, Yahoo! plans to integrate Yahoo! Mail beta and Yahoo! Messenger [1]. Conversations will eventually be archived and stored in the same manner as emails .This allows users to search within their chat logs easily, and to have them centrally stored no matter what computer is used to have conversations.

[edit] Voicemail and file sharing

Yahoo! added voicemail and file sending capabilities to their client. File-sharing of sizes up to 1GB was added.

[edit] Offline Messaging

Offline messaging, a feature long offered by Yahoo, allows users to send messages to their contacts, even if they are not signed in. They will receive the messages when they next go online.

[edit] Interoperability with WLM

On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced plans to introduce interoperability between their two messengers, creating the second largest instant messenger userbase worldwide: 40 percent of all users (AIM currently holds 56 percent). The announcement comes after years of 3rd party interoperability success (most notably, Trillian, Gaim) and criticisms that the major instant messengers were locking their networks. Microsoft has also had talks with AOL in an attempt to introduce further interoperability, but so far, AOL seems unwilling to participate.

Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger was launched July 12, 2006. This allows, for Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger users to chat to each other without the need to create an account on the other service, provided both contacts use the latest versions of the clients. For now, it's impossible to talk using the voice service among both messengers.

[edit] Games

There are various games and applications available that can be accessed via the conversation window by clicking the games icon and challenging your current contact.

[edit] Chat Rooms

Unlike most instant messenger components, Yahoo! Messenger contains various chat rooms for certain categories, such as interests, hobbies, featured rooms, and even current controversial issues. Most chat rooms have more than one (ex: Rap & Hip-Hop 1, Rap & Hip-Hop 2), since the limit for each separate room is usually somewhere between 45 and 50. In chat rooms, people can enter as an alias or their usual screenname. There is no limit for how long someone can stay in a single room.

Yahoo! chat rooms are sometimes criticized. While very popular and highly-rated, Yahoo! chat rooms are known as the easiest chat rooms to install boot codes. People can then log-on through as many screennames as possible (only using these boot codes and programs) to crash someone else's computer by IMing over 5,000 times. Users can defend themselves from this attack by selecting "allow only messenges from people in my buddy list", but this can be an annoyance in chat rooms. Yahoo! is working to fix this problem.

For several years Yahoo! also provided a very popular service of allowing user-created customized chat rooms, however, has suspended that service since May 2005, because of the expense relative to insufficient advertising revenues, and also because of lawsuits alleging the abuse of user-generated Yahoo! chat rooms by predators seeking contact with underage teenagers.

Yahoo! Messenger replaced access to Yahoo! Java-based chat rooms in May 2006.

[edit] PC-to-phone calls

In addition to PC-to-PC calls that have been supported in previous versions, PC-to-phone calls are also supported.

[edit] Latest Releases

A screenshot of Yahoo! Messenger 3.0b1 for Mac OS X

Windows - 8.1.0.209.
Mac OS X - 3.0b1 / June 28, 2006
- Several third-party clients exist that can connect to the Yahoo! Messenger network, such as, Fire, Adium, and Proteus
Unix - 1.0.4
- The Unix version looks different from the Windows version.
- Version 1.0.6.1 is available for Gentoo Linux (masked as ~x86).
- Anybody can download version 1.0.6 from the Unix Beta page: http://public.yahoo.com/~mmk/
- Feature-rich open source Linux clients are available for Yahoo! Messenger such as Gaim and gyach.
BlackBerry - Research In Motion and Yahoo! offer a free Yahoo! Messenger client for modern BlackBerry devices. Note that this is not supported on the Cingular network.
Windows Mobile - Yahoo! has just come out with Yahoo Go! for Pocket PC 2003 and 5.0. Download it at mobile.yahoo.com

[edit] Feature & Release History

[edit] Windows

There are many versions between those listed here and prior to last version listed here. These are "major releases". See one of several sites listed in external links to find other, older versions of the product.

8.1.0.209 — December 4, 2006
- No Information Available
8.1.0.195 — October 25, 2006
- Renamed to "Yahoo! Messenger"
- Ability to check for updates from the help menu
8.0.0.716 — September 29, 2006
- No Information Available
8.0.0.701 — August 10, 2006
- The release date signifies the release of a beta version. This is not clearly documented on the Yahoo site.
8.0.0.508 — July 13, 2006
- Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts.
8.0.0.505 — June 20, 2006
- Plugins possible
7.0.0.426 — August 8, 2005
- Renamed to "Yahoo! Messenger with Voice"
- Drag-and-drop photo sharing
- Drag-and-drop file sharing
- PC-to-PC calling
- Voicemail
- Ringtones
- Yahoo! 360° integration
- Pop-up Contact Cards
- Spam Reporting
- New tabs
- New emoticons
- Archive updates
- LiveWords (Beta)
7.0.0.437 — August 30, 2005
3.0 August 17, 2000
Prior Releases — Undocumented

[edit] Mac

Prior Releases - Undocumented
3.0 beta 1 - June 28, 2006
- New UI
- Display Images
- Avatars Support
- Stealth Settings
- Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts.