Messenger Module Available to All

How about it, if you’re at work and you are not allowed to install any software (Yahoo!’s IM included) on your computer you can now simply access your my Yahoo! page and chat away from there. But you didn’t hear this from me…

The original announcement of this feature from Yahoo was posted briefly a few weeks ago but, in the meantime, they’ve made it available to everybody. Good news, huh? Unfortunately, it won’t have the bells and whistles of the full downloadable Yahoo! Messenger, being a light version. For example, status messages and emoticons are a little more limited than in the original, access to your contacts and conversations are organized by a simple tab structure on the left hand side. When a new message comes in, the tab flashes and text scrolls in the My Yahoo! taskbar button at the bottom of your screen (handy for when you’re using another window when an IM arrives).

I hope this is going to get better but with Yahoo!’s history of starting things and letting them go awry and eventually abandoning them altogether…you never know. The fact that it’s on the My Yahoo! page should be a guarantee that this will not be the case, though.

For those who are ready to test it, Sarah Bacon, Product Manager at Yahoo explains how it’s done: "to add the Yahoo! Messenger module to your My Yahoo! Beta page, click the "Personalize this Page" button at the top. Click the "Add Modules" link under Content, and then do a search for Messenger. From the search results, click the "+ Add" button next to Y! Messenger. Then be sure to click the "Sign in" link in the Messenger module to make yourself available (or invisible). You can place the Messenger module in the larger middle section of your page or drag the title bar to place it in the more narrow, right hand column on the page."

I’m not sure what to do… enjoy my sedentary social life using the new feature or actually going out in the jungle out there and meeting people? Tough choice.