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Yahoo! Messenger is a popular advertisement-supported 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) 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 BUZZing and
music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars.
Yahoo! Messenger 2.5.3 for Mac, released in 2003, is the current stable
version for Mac OS X. It has far fewer features than the current Windows
release and has been reported to be quite buggy. In June of 2006 Messenger for
Mac 3.0b1 was released as a beta, and remains in beta more than a year later.
This beta has a more modern interface than 2.5.3 and includes avatars,display
image viewing, BUZZ facility, and some other features comparable to those on
the Windows version. However, it is still lacking the more advanced features
contained in the Windows version, such as PC-to-PC calling, photo sharing, an
address book and chat room access. The latest beta version (rc4 released in
May 2007) also contains bugs, including a java bug when Safari 3 is installed
that causes new messages to pop to the top of the window causing the user to
repeatedly scroll to the bottom of the window as new messages arrive.
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 BT Communicator was withdrawn on 31st December 2006.
Yahoo! Messenger was originally launched under the name Yahoo! Pager on March
9, 1998.
Click here to download Yahoo! Messenger
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