LiveSide - News blog : WebMessenger

Standalone Web Messenger coming to Windows Live?

Kip Kniskern — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:14:00 GMT

Thanks to a tip we learn today that Windows Live users in Singapore now have their own standalone version of Windows Live Web Messenger. Just by way of a history lesson, MSN Messenger had a standalone web messenger, and then for a while a standalone version of Windows Live Web Messenger was tested, called “messidog”. Messidog was subsequently built into the Hotmail web interface, and a standalone version disappeared. Looks like, at least for Singapore (and anyone who cares to log on), it’s back:

We went ahead and logged in from here in the US, and had no problems. No telling whether we’ll see this more broadly, if it’s just a test or a local marketing effort, or a hint at things to come. Anyway, you can try it out:

Http://webim.live.sg

Thanks for the tip!

BuddyFuse Web Messenger

Sunshine — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:30:06 GMT

Remember BuddyFuse, the extension to Windows Live Messenger that integrates third party (social/IM) networks into Windows Live Messenger? Well, they did it again. As we all know MSN Web Messenger retired on June 30th and you can only access its replacement, Windows Live Web Messenger, through Hotmail. So for those in need of a standalone web messenger they created BuddyFuse Web Messenger!

This early preview version of BuddyFuse Web Messenger is hosted on Windows Azure and enables you to chat with your friends on the Windows Live Messenger (MSN) chat network from your web browser. Support for other networks is planned for the future. You need not worry about your privacy either. Where other web messengers ask for their users' personal information, such as username and password, with BuddyFuse Web Messenger you submit this information directly to Microsoft as it makes use of the Windows Live Messenger library, which is part of the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit.

Besides Azure and the Windows Live Messenger Toolkit (library + UI controls), ExtJS javascript library is also used for the front-end.

As mentioned already this is an early preview version, so you might come across things that aren’t working perfectly yet (though the ones I came across have all been fixed already). For that there is the Feedback Button, so you can submit any feedback you may have right from the website.

BuddyFuse Web Messenger is available in English and Dutch. You can even switch between languages, if you wish to do so, by clicking the flag in the upper left.

MSN Web Messenger to retire

Kip Kniskern — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:23:52 GMT

Joining Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Money, and Encarta, MSN Web Messenger is slated to retire on June 30, 2009. Its replacement, Windows Live Web Messenger, accessible through Hotmail, has been available for a couple of months now, and after June 30 will be the only way to access Messenger through the web.

According to the Windows Live Hotmail team blog:

With new web-based instant messaging (IM) now available from Windows Live Hotmail worldwide, we are preparing to retire MSN Web Messenger. The old MSN Web Messenger experience will end on June 30, 2009

via Ars Technica

Web IM In Hotmail

Sunshine — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:50:53 GMT

Web IM is coming to Hotmail. It became available to users in France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the UK last month and starting today it will roll out to Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the USA. If your country is not in this list yet, don’t fret! The team will be rolling out web-based Messenger to more locations in the coming months.

So now, even if you are on a computer without Windows Live Messenger installed you can IM your buddies! I can think of quite a few situations in which this proves very useful. All you have to do is go to Windows Live Hotmail, sign in to Messenger there and you are set to go.

If you do have Messenger installed and are signed in you will be notified that you logged in to two places (MPOP):

The second image shown is the one that will be shown at the bottom of Hotmail.

You can start an IM from a mail your buddy has sent you by clicking the status indicator next to your buddies name in the header:

(ohh noes I can’t, he’s offline)

or from the People page:

This will result in a web-messenger popup if no messenger on that computer, or the opening of a regular conversation window if you are signed in on Messenger on the computer used.

If you have more than one Windows Live ID, you can sign in to web Messenger and regular Messenger at the same time, with different IDs.
Don’t worry, people can only see your availability if you’ve agreed to be their Messenger contacts. You can sign in and use Hotmail or any other Windows Live service without signing in to web Messenger, so nobody can start chatting with you until you decide to let them know you’re available.

If you are residing in one of the mentioned countries and don’t see it yet, be patient as it is gradually rolling out. Also make sure you got the language set correctly. I normally have Hotmail set to English but found that I needed to set it to Dutch (country in my account is set to the Netherlands, as that is where I live) in order to be able to get Messenger in Hotmail. That is also the reason why you see Dutch in most of the screenshots, if you want to see English ones head on over to the team’s blog post or windowslivewire. Our Chinese sister site www.LiveSino.net, also has a post up about this.

P.S. Offline messaging is not supported (thanks zeke009, I forgot about that).

Hotmail Web Messenger returns (or does it?)

Kip Kniskern — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:32:37 GMT

Web Messenger, expected as part of the Wave 3 update to Windows Live Hotmail but only seen in fits and starts, appears to be making a comeback. We spotted Web Messenger in December, only to discover that we were still hosted on dogfood servers after a preview we were privy to for the Wave 3 release. Then Web Messenger made another appearance for some users, although that didn’t last long either.

Now we’re getting reports that Web Messenger is returning, although we’re not seeing it here as of yet. Jamie Thomson logged in from Web Messenger today, and we chatted briefly about what he was seeing:

but no sooner than it appeared for him, he lost it:

Having said that, whilst writing this email (and chatting to Kip who wrote the above linked to blog entry on Liveside) it unexpectedly logged me out and now it won’t let me back in:

Are you seeing Web Messenger in Hotmail? Let us know in the comments.

Hotmail update starts rolling out for all users, POP3 coming to the US

damaster — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:13:22 GMT

Today the Hotmail team has finally announced the start of the roll out process for all users worldwide to the latest Wave 3 update of Hotmail and People.

The Hotmail team has been hard at work since our last release in the fall, and we’ve got a bunch of new features coming out… and we’re rolling them out now!

If you haven’t seen any changes yet, they’ll be rolling out gradually, so you should see them in the next week or two.

If you’ve been keeping track of the latest at LiveSide, we’ve previously posted what new features are to come in this update. See our previous articles on the latest features for Hotmail and People. To recap, Windows Live Wire blog posted a summary of all the new features coming in this update:

More storage in Hotmail. Start with 5 GB, and watch your storage grow, as you need it.

More themes in Hotmail (including some that change based on time of day or weather)

The top banner ad moved to the side. (You’ve been waiting for that, haven’t you?)

Quickly add maps, directions, movie times and more to e-mail messages. It makes planning a night out so much easier. (UK and US-only, for the moment)

See “what’s new” updates from people in your network on Hotmail’s Today page.

Get Hotmail on your mobile phone’s e-mail program. POP3 access is becoming available to Hotmail users in the US and Brazil, in addition to United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Create e-mail signatures in HTML. Get as fancy as you want to be.

The People page has been re-organized.

I’m surprised though that there’s no mention of the new Web Messenger integration anywhere on the two blog posts. I hope they’re just keeping it as a surprise. After all from the screenshot on Windows Live People above the “Messenger” button is clearly visible, and our friend Picturepan2 from LiveSino had also been noticing that Web Messenger is starting to show up on 2 of his accounts.

Have you received the latest update to your Hotmail and People yet? Leave us a note!

Web Messenger coming – not here yet (clarification)

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:58:46 GMT

This evening our friend PicturePan2 IMed me to say that WebMessenger was live on Hotmail. I checked my main Hotmail account and indeed there it was. We checked it out a bit, and I put up a quick post on it, noting that Web Messenger had “appeared and then disappeared again a few times”.

Thanks to some of our readers it was noted that the bay I was on Bay 107df-w, which it turns out is a “dog food” server. Back in October we agreed to an embargo for a private beta so that we could get early access to the Windows Live Wave 3 bits. That embargo ended November 19th at 9pm pst.

We’re not sure why we’re still on dog food servers, as the private beta was shut down on Dec 1, we received multiple emails to that effect. So when we saw the Web Messenger show up, it didn’t even dawn on us that we still had “insider access”. We’re not aware of any current embargos or ndas that cover our talking about what we are able to access, but it doesn’t do much good to point it out if our readers can’t access it too.

Sorry to have caused any confusion, but it’s good to know that Web Messenger is on the way!

Some more on the Hotmail update: Web Messenger, Calendar (?), Today pane updated

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:09:00 GMT

Although Windows Live Wire posted on the scrolling option update today, it looks like Hotmail has snuck in a few more bits along the way. The most noticeable difference is the inclusion of Web Messenger, now built in to Hotmail:

Now you can open a conversation window with your Messenger contacts from within Hotmail (popping up a new window)

Now it looks like these features are just now being rolled out, as the Messenger sign in from Hotmail has appeared and then disappeared again a few times, and the Messenger contact list is pretty iffy – contact icons seem to appear and disappear at random. But Web Messenger is working, at least temporarily.

It also looks like the Hotmail Today page is back:

It appears when you sign in to Hotmail, at least until you change the settings to make it go away.

Picturepan2 thinks that Calendar may have been updated too, due to a new icon, and it does seem snappier, but that may just be wishful thinking.

We’ll keep an eye out for more changes, and as always let us know if you spot anything

Windows Live Hotmail – an early look at some more improvements to come

damaster — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:25:14 GMT

We’ve seen Hotmail’s interface being upgraded to Wave 3, and we’ve seen the complaints about it. But little do we know, apart from a few hints from this blog post, that what we’ve seen is only half of what’s being worked on, and some of these new features actually addresses what some of us have complained about Hotmail all these times. So here it is, say hello to the upcoming new features of Hotmail:

POP Access

This had been a popular request. Microsoft have finally opened up Hotmail to POP access instead of clinging to their proprietary DeltaSync protocol. Users will not be forced to use Outlook (with Outlook Connector) or Windows Live Mail to access their Hotmail emails from their desktop clients anymore. Instead, any e-mail application that supports POP will be able to access emails in Hotmail accounts.

POP Aggregation

Previously only available to Premium subscribers, Hotmail will be allowing all users to import any other POP-enabled email accounts they have right from within Hotmail. This means users can finally import their Yahoo! Mail Plus, Gmail or AOL emails into Hotmail, all in one place. Hotmail will also provide options to allow users to filter emails from each of these accounts into a separate folder, or all into the same inbox.

Instant Access

Remember the Hotmail blog mentioned about “some cool ideas about how to use the space where the favorites list [in classic version of Hotmail] used to be”? Well you no longer have to guess, as “Instant Access” is a new tool that takes up this space and “integrates Live Search into Hotmail, allowing users to find and embed search results such as Web images, restaurants reviews, maps, directions, or movie times into their email, without having to leave the Compose Email page.”

Web Messenger Integration

Some time ago, we briefly told you about Windows Live Web Messenger being developed and under dogfood testing. Well, as we know some lucky readers are already using it, it is no longer a surprise that Web Messenger will be coming for all of us. Now you can IM straight from within Hotmail!

What’s New Feed integration

After you have sent an email to a known contact in your contact list in Hotmail, the confirmation page will display the “What’s New” feed of that particular contact. It would be particularly useful to stay up-to-date with your contacts whenever you’re using a Windows Live service, as it seems like the “What’s New” feed is being implemented everywhere.

Ads Position Moved

Many people have been complaining how the ads in Hotmail really destroys the look of the Wave 3 themes and reduces your already-very-limited screen estate. No, they haven’t got rid of them, but there are some good news coming. In case you haven’t noticed from the above screenshots, Hotmail has finally decided to move the the top banner ad to the right column, and of course, it is now vertically positioned. Perfect for widescreen readers! We just hope that the ad will automatically resize according to your screen resolution, or it’ll just be as ugly as before. Words has it that the new Spaces will be having a totally ad-free look as well!

Of course, there’s also the ever-increasing storage that can apparently “store planets”. And last but not least, the Hotmail team is also working hard on fixing many of the bugs that people may have had experienced, as they seemed to just realise a lot of users are still using 800x600 monitors.

Wave 3 Launch Timeline

So, you might ask, when will this be available to all users? Take a look at this timeline:

To put us in context, we are currently somewhere between Phase 2 and Phase 3 (I’d say right after Phase 2). It is said that Web Messenger, What’s New feed, and Instant Access will be available in Phase 3, when the entire suite of Windows Live products (both online and offline) are released and out of beta (with the exception of Hotmail, Calendar and Movie Maker apparently). POP Access will be released in Phase 4, and POP Aggregation and “ever increasing storage” will be available in Phase 5. Sounds like a long road to go, but nevertheless this is good news for many users out there.

Hotmail Wave 3 includes Web Messenger for some lucky readers

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:22:25 GMT

Well we’re still waiting for the new Hotmail, but we really appreciate the tips and feedback we’ve been getting, and the comments. Special thanks this time to one anonymous reader, who not only has the new Hotmail, but also a working Web Messenger implementation built into it. This feature is expected to be added in over the next months, so it’s good to see it appear so soon (even before we get Hotmail itself, hey!)

He kindly sent along some screenshots, which I put in a Spaces Photo Album:

Windows Live Spaces

From the looks of things, Web Messenger is tightly integrated with Hotmail, or will be. Now we really want the new version!

Windows Live WebMessenger closer to public beta? - updated screenshot

Chris — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:28:00 GMT

Andy from Messenger Stuff noticed that the Windows Live WebMessenger dogfood signin page has been updated, and now features a different screenshot of the service. The new webmessenger service started external testing back in September, but since then things have been quiet. Maybe this is a sign that a public beta is on the way.

To recap, the notable updates from MSN WebMessenger include:

Ability to set a display picture and personal message directly from within the browser
Contact groups are now shown - MSN Webmessenger only shows them by online/offline status
Tabbed chatting with the open conversations stacked vertically on the right hand side
The Windows Live Wave 2 UI

Here's a comparison of the new shot with the old:

If that's too small for your liking, Andy has blown it up and done a pretty good analysis of it.

So looking forward to Messenger v9, the odds must be favourable that it will include tabbed chatting. After all, it would look pretty bad for a supporting web service to have more functionality than the main client application don't you think?

Windows Live WebMessenger goes into dogfood

Chris — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:15:00 GMT

Beta is the new passé, and dogfood is where its at. Calendar and now WebMessenger are now both in dogfoods that are running on external urls (you have to be signed up to the internal dogfoods in order to load the products - ie you need to be a Microsoft employee).

Here's the tiny WebMessenger shot from the homepage (with the new Windows Live Wave 2 UI)

Judging from the screenshot it seems like Windows Live WebMessenger adds Personal Status Message integration, tabbed conversations (ok so they are stacked vertically in a "conversation workspace") and display picture options, though those are already available from most Wave 2 Windows Live services, such as Spaces.

Unfortunately it sounds like the WebMessenger team is actually less progressed than the Calendar team, so don't get your hopes up for a beta anytime soon. Hey, at least it's in the works though.

As always we love tips.

More information (and some speculation) about Hotmail

Kip Kniskern — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 23:33:00 GMT

With the announced release of Windows Live Hotmail still rolling out, a bit more information has come out in the form of some blog posts from Hotmail team members.

First, Steve Kafka goes more in depth into cleaning up your address book, with an explanation of "clean up duplicate contacts"

Next, Omar Shahine reports on some impressive numbers for Windows Live Hotmail:

Today on Windows Live Hotmail we are hosting about 200 million accounts. The remainder of the users are still on the older MSN Hotmail Service. Over the next few months we expect that number to continue to climb as the remaining users start to use Windows Live Hotmail as their main service.
The scale of the site is also far greater. When I first started working on Hotmail back in 2004 we were working on building out our first cluster that would eventually support Windows Live Hotmail, and today the sheer number of machines running our code is mind numbing.

Omar also points to a(n apparently 3rd party) tool to make it easy to switch to Windows Live Hotmail from some other mail service:

It's also interesting to note that both Omar:

"There is one other surprise coming that I'll blog about before the end of the month."

and Dare Obasanjo:

"So far we’ve seen updates Spaces, SkyDrive, and now Mail within the past month. The summer of Windows Live is on here and so far it’s looking pretty good. I wonder what else Windows Live has up it’s sleeve?"

seem to be hinting pretty broadly of more to come within the next few weeks. What could it be? We know that at least three services (and surely more) are slated for beta releases soon: Windows Live Calendar, Windows Live Events, and the Gatineau analytics tool. Of these, Calendar probably makes the most sense here, as it would replace the current MSN Calendar tab in Hotmail.

One interesting bit of (admittedly wild) speculation though is a Web Messenger sighting:

..in this screenshot posted on Read/Write Web yesterday. Will Web Messenger/Hotmail integration be coming, similar to Yahoo Mail?