Messenger for Mac 8

Dec 28, 2009 08:02 GMT  ·  By

While Microsoft is not yet ready to talk about the next iteration of Windows Live Messenger, the company is promising that it will deliver a new development milestone of its instant messaging client in the first half of the coming year. But in this regard, the software giant has in fact missed the initially announced deadline for the first testing release a new version of its IM client designed not for Windows, but for Mac OS X. Microsoft is offering Windows Live Messenger for users of its own proprietary operating system, including Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, and Messenger for Mac for Apple’s Mac OS X.

“So what’s up with Messenger? One of the most frequent questions we get here on Mojo and in forums is that you – our customers and community- want an update on timing for A/V support in the Messenger personal service, especially since we shared our plan to deliver a beta of personal A/V in 2009,” stated Eric Wilfrid, general manager for the MacBU at Microsoft.

With 2010 just a few days away, it is clear by now to the people that followed the evolution of the instant messaging client that Microsoft won’t produce a Beta this year. The first Beta build of Messenger for Mac 8 is expected in March 2010. Wilfrid confirmed officially that Microsoft is currently dogfooding Messenger for Mac 8, most probably a pre-Beta development milestone. Dogfooding is a term used by the Redmond company’s teams that eat their own dog food, namely testing and using the very software products they are developing. At this point in time, Mac OS X users can download and run Messenger for Mac 7 which supports Mac OS X version 10.4.9 (Tiger) or later.

“Here’s the update: progress has been slower than expected due to the challenge of connecting to the most current A/V code running on the Windows Live servers. We will not have a beta available in 2009, but we are close: we are in “dogfood”, and we plan to have the beta available to you by next March. We know how anxious you are to use this new version, but I want to ensure we are delivering a top quality experience before we ship, and we will have that in March,” Wilfrid added.

At the same time, the software giant is building Windows Live Messenger Wave 4, which will most likely be labeled Windows Live Messenger 2010 when it will be released the coming year. But Microsoft is in no way ready to talk Windows Live Messenger Wave 4, not even to announce the release of the first Beta, despite the fact that the Windows flavor of the IM client is also being dogfooded, with the first details already leaked to the public.