Hi,
The Instant Messenger (IM) scene is getting hotter by the day and that is quite apparent if you take a good look at the new releases from Microsoft and Yahoo. The IM market has just begun to blossom and all the three giants (not to forget AOL) are getting ready to grab the biggest piece of the market share pie. There are a lot of instant messengers out there but these three are definitely the hottest contenders for the top spot. Of these three, Yahoo has come up with a veritable and amazing idea that is definitely going to help them establish a stronghold in the IM market.
Anyways, Yahoo has certainly got the average teen (who happens to make up the majority of the IM users) to stand up and listen. The new avatar of the yahoo messenger (version 6.0) totally rocks, and I mean literally.
Appearance :
To start with, the version 6 has a completely different look. There is definitely a 3D feel to it. The 3D taskbar icons and the menu icons give new life to the age old messenger. With the new 3D environment the IM environments look better than ever. A lot of the IM environments are themed backgrounds that you can interact with. I never knew chatting could be so much fun. Just like in msn 6.2 you can now have a display picture in the chat window, not only can you have a display picture you also have the option to share your picture with the people in your contacts, or to not share the picture with the contacts that you don?t want to share with. For the display picture you can even create your own avatar.
An Avatar is a stylized graphical image with the kind of clothes and accessories that you want your image to wear. Newer types of emoticons have been added but all of them are in the form of smileys unlike msn. Like in msn you can also change the look and colour combination of your chat window. Another new feature added in version 6 is the ?Audibles?. Audibles are list of voice notes that you can send to the person you are chatting with. You can choose from a list of audibles in the given categories.
The categories are; Flirts, Hellos, Goodbyes, Insults, Taunts ? etc. You can now buzz the person at the other end just by clicking the buzz icon instead of pressing Ctrl + G. The text format toolbar has now been integrated within the IM chat window. You can also view Timestamps as you chat with your friends. Starting a game with your chat friend can be done by just clicking a button and choosing a game. You can also share your photo album in Yahoo Photos! if you have one.
The main window is horizontally divided into two parts. The top part has two tabs. The ?Messenger? tab is where your contacts are listed and the ?Address Book? tab contains a list of all your contacts from your email account. It also lists their phone numbers, email and you can email them, call them if they have provided a phone number or send them an sms if they have a cell phone. The call facility is provided by Net 2 Phone and you will obviously have to buy a card from them if you are to use it.
The bottom part of the main window is for tabs like weather, sports, news which you can add or remove according to your preference, and it is here that Yahoo has come up with their amazing and veritable idea. Yahoo has integrated radio with its messenger. It?s called LaunchCast. No it?s not your local FM stations but its internet radio. And as if that wasn?t a brilliant idea they also let you create your own radio station. Yes, your very own radio station, a radio station that will play music that you want it to play. Since this feature has been launched keeping in mind the users in the US of A Hindi music is totally out of the question.
LaunchCast :
LaunchCast has two versions. The first version is LaunchCast which is totally free but there are only few stations you can listen to other that your own station. There are also commercials that you will have to listen to while listening to the radio. You can also skip tracks that you don?t want to listen to, although the number of tracks that you can skip in the free version are limited. The other version is LaunchCast Plus, where you pay $ 2.99 a year to listen to tens of radio stations throughout all genres and there are no commercials and unlimited skipping of tracks. The only drawback of this service is that it is hard to enjoy it without a broadband connection. LaunchCast is a brilliant idea considering the broadband penetration in the developed countries like US of A.
Creating your own radio station is a breeze. You can select the artists and the genre types that you want to play on your station. As the songs are played you can rate the artist, the song and the album from which the song is being played. Rating the artists and the songs helps the service decide which kind of songs to play. The more you rate a song/artist/album the more likely you are to hear the song/artist/album on your station. Your radio station can be shared by your friends, so your friends can listen to your radio station. You can set the messenger to display your status as the name of the song that you are listening to. If you don?t like listening to songs with explicit lyrics you can set it so that that station won?t play those songs.
This is just what is new in the latest release of the Yahoo messenger, like in the previous versions you can login through your cell phones and chat with your contacts using sms. You can still do what you could do in the earlier versions except it?s a lot easier this time. You can search from your main messenger window. If you have a mic and a speaker then you are all set for voice chat. Just use the wizard to setup your mic and speakers and you will be talking in no time. The file transfer and the webcam features are the same. Use the conference feature to talk to multiple contacts. Play games with your contacts in the same chat window. You can leave offline messages for your contacts to view when they come online next time. Another point to note is that the Yahoo messenger doesn?t show advertisements while msn shows advertisements. Yahoo also lets you stay online appearing offline for some people while online for others as desired by you.
Security :
When it comes to security Yahoo has definitely done some real work. As of now there are no known vulnerabilities for the latest release of the Yahoo messenger (if you find any please let me know), although most of the vulnerabilities had been patched up with the release of the version 5.0.0. MSN messenger still has some vulnerabilities that it needs to fix ( which I will talk about in the review of MSN 6) for which patches are available.
Using the new Yahoo messenger is easier than ever. I?ve used a lot of the messengers out there like MSN, Indiatimes, Rediff, AOL, Odigo, Trillian, ICQ, mIRC, BitWise and of all these Yahoo definitely takes the cake. Yahoo messenger version 6.0.0.1643 is definitely the best there is available right now.
This is definitely a winning idea and is sure to be a hit with the users who have broadband connections. In emerging broadband markets like India it will catch on soon as more and more users get hooked on cable internet. Yahoo has made good use of the available technology and is not just eye-candy anymore. With its launch of version 6 Yahoo has totally revolutionized the IM scene and is ready to knock msn off its ground. In the time to come it will be interesting to see how Yahoo capitalizes on its early innovative advantage and what more Yahoo has in store for its users. Msn meanwhile has already launched their new version but they definitely need to top Yahoo?s release if they are to stay in the battle.
Thankyou,
luckyrocker