On September 12, Microsoft announced a wave of forced upgrades to impact Windows Live Messengers and MSN Messenger users. Due to a security vulnerability in MSN Messenger 6.2, 7.0 and 7.5 and in Windows Live Messenger 8.0, the Redmond company took the decision to migrate all users exposed to risks to MSN Messenger 7.0.0820 (for Windows 2000 and Windows 98, SE, ME) and to Windows Live Messenger 8.1 (for XP and Vista). The upgrade process has been far from streamlined. On the contrary in fact - Microsoft has had to deal not only with a consistent wave of criticism and resistance from users against the forced migration, but also with a range of problems plaguing the instant messaging clients after the upgrade was completed.

It is important to understand that there are a total of three phases to the forced upgrading process to the secure version of Microsoft's instant messaging solutions. At the end of September, two of the steps had already been dealt with. The first stage of the Mandatory Security Upgrades involved Windows XP and the move to Windows Live Messenger 8.1. The second was focused on Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows ME and the instant messaging clients were upgraded to MSN Messenger 7.0, build number 7.0.0820.
"The third phase of the upgrades will focus on a small number of remaining clients that exhibit the webcam vulnerability. We're still working out the time line for this third phase, and we will keep you posted about when you can expect to see that upgrade roll out", stated Rick Eames, Group Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger.

At this time, there is yet no word from Microsoft related to the third and final stage of the Mandatory Security Upgrades for its instant messaging client. However, users of the latest version of Windows Live Messenger have not been overlooked when it comes to upgrades. The Redmond company informed of the transition Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Beta 1 to the Beta 2 release. This new wave of upgrades only affected users running the first beta of Windows Live Messenger 8.5.

"For all you beta 1 users out there, you should expect to start seeing the upgrade prompts. We're testing a few different upgrade scenarios with this release, so it is expected that different operating systems will have different upgrade experiences: Windows XP users will see the new unified installer experience as an optional update; Windows Vista 32- and 64-bit users will see the Windows Installer and MSI experience as a mandatory update and Windows XP 64 and Windows 2003 Server users will see the Windows Installer and MSI experience as an optional update," explained a member of the Windows Live Messenger team.