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The future of Windows Live Messenger – "Chatter" unified communication service on Windows 8?

By on June 3, 2011 7:54 PM
13 comments

So out of the three main pillars of Windows Live – Hotmail, Messenger and SkyDrive – we’ve briefly touched on the future of the Hotmail and SkyDrive over the past few weeks, and today details leaked from the pre-beta M3 build of Windows 8 reveals something that might become the future of Messenger.

NaiveUser on MyDigitalLife Forums (via WinRumors.com) has once again digged up some resources from the leaked Windows 8 builds. Today he revealed something called a "Chatter" service from the ConsentUX.dll file:

Chatter Icon100,Do you want to allow %1 to use your %2 ?
101,CapabilityName
102,DisplayName

1600,Block
1601,Do you want to you allow Chatter to use your video ?
1602,Allow
1603,Always Allow

While we’re not entirely sure exactly what "Chatter" is (it could just be a codename), we know it’s definitely related to video communications. Manan from Beingmanan.com suggests that this might be a sign of an unified communication service in Windows 8, bringing Microsoft’s Skype, Messenger, or even Lync and other third-party communication services like Facebook Chat into one place. He also noticed two new notification icons in the Windows 8′s lock-screen as demoed during the D9 conference:

Notifications

Windows Phone 7 users should be quite familiar with the Hotmail icon on the right, showing the number of unread email messages from Hotmail. However, the two icons on the left brings us particular attention, especially in relation to how Windows Live Messenger might work in Windows 8:

  • Social TileMessenger Social: The first notification icon on the lock-screen, with the number “7″ next to it, seems to correspond to a "Messenger Social" tile on the Start Screen (as shown in the screenshot on the right), with the “7″ possibly indicating the number of new social notifications from Windows Live, Facebook and others. We’re guessing this might be similar to how the Social pane works in the current Windows Live Messenger 2011.
  • Messaging TileText/Voice/Video Messaging: The second notification icon, with the number “2″ next to it, seems to correspond to the "Messaging" tile on the Start Screen (as shown in the screenshot on the right), with the “2″ possibly indicating the number of unread IMs or open conversations. If we assume that this "Messaging" tile works similar to Windows Phone “Mango”‘s Messaging hub, minus SMSs (since you don’t usually SMS using your PCs or tablets), could this be where the future of Messenger will sit? Will this be what "Chatter" really is? Will this be integrated with other communication services, such as Skype, Facebook Chat, and others?

We’re interested to know what you think this new "Chatter" service is, and how you think it will work in Windows 8. Leave us a comment below!

Posted in News | Tags: , , ,

Comments

  • Adrian

    I think you’ve got this all wrong.  From the second screenshot, it seems to me that this “Chatter” means “social updates”, not video.

    • Damaster – LiveSide.net

      If you read the article, I said “Chatter” might be the Messaging tile in the third screenshot, which might provide unified messaging/voice/video communications all in one place.

      I think the second is just what you said it is, it shows the social updates, but this is not “Chatter”.

  • http://reinnovate.asia Kit Yeung

    If that’s the successor of WLM instead of a notification system, this is yet another rebranding… While media is still not over the “msn”…

  • Chris

    Not sure, but messenger is in dire need of a refresh. 

  • Anonymous

    If Chatter really does turn out to be a rebrand of Messenger, and integrates Skype, Messenger, Lync and other IM protocols, I’m all for it.

    Windows Live Messenger is such a mouthful to say, and the acronym WLM hasn’t caught on much (even though I use it plenty). Many still refer to it as ‘MSN’, and it irks me a bit, because I can only associate that with Microsoft’s content sites. Chatter seems like a fairly good name if any as a replacement.

    Now if only they could move on with Hotmail…

  • Anonymous

    I’m kinda hoping this will be Messenger + Skype + Facebook Chat. However, if it is, the antitrust police in the EU and USA will be over it like a plague of locusts.

    • Chris

      Tell me about it. I can;t stand the EU. People are not stupid. They know full well there are alternatives out there.  

  • Anonymous

    I like the idea but I hope more comes out of the Skype deal than an absorbed entity. Skype could replace the phone-number, the way email addresses replaced street addresses… Microsoft just needs to push it well enough.

    • Chris

      wait? My E-mail address replaced my home Address? I better take my numbers off my garage. Of course post office will have a hard time finding me, as with UPS, FedEx, DHL, Oh and if I need to call 911 they will have a hard time finding me also. 

      • Anonymous

        Ha ha, but I hope you see my point that whilst 30 years ago you’d have an address book containing friends and families street addresses and zip codes now you’re more likely to send them a quick email with an address you can remember easily. The telephone number hasn’t changed much since 1880 and a string of 11 numbers is very difficult to remember.

        Skype on the other hand could introduce a system where the costs/rates of calls are identical for everything and are platform agnostic- no premium rate numbers, no strings of random numbers- therefore if I wanted to call a small company’s number I wouldn’t need to scribble it down I could remember a sensible string of words e.g. “FranksPaintShop” and dial that instead, or if I want to call customer support or a branch of a company I could click a “call us” button on a website not need to worry about how much it will cost me, even from across the world.

        I hope that in 100 years we’re still not using telephone numbers on adverts, websites etc… we should be past that by now.

  • Anonymous

    I’m hoping that Microsoft drops the “Windows Live Messenger” name and integrates Skype and Messenger into one using Skype as the final name. Keep Lync as the enterprise app but integrate compatibility into it.

    • Chris

      I like that idea. Hey Microsoft, are you listening? 

  • Leo

    To me, Chatter may be the so-called MS response to Facetime.

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