14 DAY TRIAL // Just as Google is bundling Chrome with YouTube in order for the success of the service to rub off on the browser, so is Microsoft attempting to increase the installed base of its instant messaging client via the alliance with Facebook. With just so much room for growth on home soil, the path to increased audience is synonymous with localization.
In this regard, not only is the software giant delivering the Windows Live Messenger desktop client in a variety of languages, but is also tailoring the Facebook flavor of the IM utility to markets around the world. This means an additional 19 languages to what the application has been offering so far.
“Windows Live Messenger is a service used across the globe. Part of being an international service is supporting languages around the world. We have updated the Messenger App for Facebook to support all languages that both Facebook and Windows Live support,” Chris Parker, program manager Windows Live Contacts and Messenger Platform, revealed.
According to Microsoft, following the introduction of the update, Windows Live Messenger for Facebook is available to users of the social network in no less than 20 languages. Parker indicated that Windows Live Messenger for Facebook supported “English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Czech, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Turkish, Polish and Catalan.”
At the same time, users are still waiting for the desktop version of Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (2009) to come out of Beta and evolve to Wave 3 level. Back in mid-November, Microsoft promised that version 9.0 of its instant messaging client would be made available soon.
However, at this point in time the software giant continues to offer the Beta version of Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (2009). Windows Live Messenger for Facebook was introduced at the start of May 2008. The Redmond company indicated that, after the first four months of existence, the application was already being used by more than one million Facebook members.