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. 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.

In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger, it also offers (on the Windows operating system) some unique features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows) and Custom Status Messages. Another recently added feature is customized avatars. However, none of these features are 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 the ability to IM with Windows Live Messenger or Microsoft Messenger.

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 would also make 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.

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

British Telecommunications' BT Communicator software is based on Yahoo! Messenger.http://www.bt.com/btcommunicator

Latest Releases

Windows 8.0.0.505 / July 13, 2006.

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.

Feature & Release History

Windows

• Prior Releases — Undocumented
• 8.0.0.508 = June 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! 360º integration
  • Pop-up Contact Cards
  • Spam Reporting
  • New tabs
  • New emoticons
  • Archive updates
  • LiveWords (Beta)
• 7.0.0.437 — August 30, 2005

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.

• 2.5.3 - September 24, 2003
  • Chat
  • Webcam
  • Conference chat

References