Yahoo! Messenger is a popular instant messaging client and protocol that is also free of charge and can be used with a generic
"Yahoo! ID" that allows access to other services, such as Yahoo! Mail, but I am sure that most of you know that already, since this is one of the most popular messaging networks in the world, as far as I know.
The current stable version for the Mac is Yahoo! Messenger 2.5.3, released way back in 2003, and it has drastically fewer features than its Windows counterpart. If you wonder how come you didn't see it used by your friends, or if you tried to use it without success at least once, then you should know that this "stable" version seems to be rather buggy when used in conjunction with the latest version of Mac OS X, to say nothing about the fact that you have a lot of better alternatives available, such as Adium or iChat.
In June 2006, Messenger for Mac 3.0b1 was released, having a modernized interface and including Avatars and other features, but still lacking advanced features like address book capabilities or PC-to-PC call. Guess what? I have some hot news about the second beta of this program, and they are coming from Ars Technica's Jacqui Cheng that met with some members of the Yahoo! Messenger team at Macworld and questioned them...
According to Matthew Skyrm, Director of Product Management for Yahoo! Messenger, the yet unreleased beta of Yahoo! Messenger for Mac will include voice chat, tabbed message windows, message logging and archiving, Spotlight integration, Web cam support, asynchronous IMs, Phone in and out integration through Yahoo Voice and more.
Obviously, one big question remains: when? The answer is not yet a clear one, since the team doesn't want to release a new beta "until everything is solid", but you should expect a new beta for Yahoo! Messenger's Mac version in the next few months.
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