Windows Live Messenger 8 Beta: A Piece Of Crap
On Thursday I received a beta invitation to Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Beta (aka MSN Messenger 8.0 Beta). At first I was excited about trying it out but I uninstalled it after 3 days.
They’ve changed the interface a lot. There are a lot of colors. The default color scheme was a weird gray, orange and green. I had so much trouble telling who’s online and who’s offline with this version. They’ve changed the MSN buddy icon colors. You know how red meant that the person was offline, green meant they were online and if someone was away or busy you’d see a green buddy with either a clock icon or a warning icon next to it. In later MSN versions, you’d see the contacts display picture instead of a green buddy icon to indicate that they were online. But in version 8.0 Beta, the person’s display picture will show up if they are online or not which is very confusing. The only way to tell someone’s status is to read the text next to their screen name which is very time consuming and hard because the text is in light gray.
Now if you don’t have the large display option selected, there are 3 colors for the MSN buddy icon. White or invisible means that the person is offline, dark green means that the person is online and light green means that the person is away or busy. The dark green and light green are very close which makes it hard to distinguise for people with vision problems. Why they changed something that seemed to work is beyond me.
I didn’t uninstall Windows Live Messenger because it was extremely slow. No. I uninstalled it because a group where I had 46 contacts was suddenly empty.
I hope they turn around this version and release something decent like MSN Messenger 7.5.
I agree with you. When I got the invitation I was really excited too. But then I installed it and what I found really annoying was the fact that we can’t make the difference between people who are away and those who are busy.
I didn’t have any problem with my groups…
Some features are nice though. Now you can appear offline and talk to people who are online. You can also, instead of sending just a file at the time, share some folders with your buddies. I don’t think I’ll use that, but it is fun.
Also, you can send a instant message to someone who’s offline and he will get the message when he goes online.
The design is weird. But you can change the color. I mean the default color is green, which I found weird and not cute. But then you can change it to whichever color you want.
I think they’ll come up with something nice in the end. To me, Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Beta is just OK! I was expecting something a lot better than that but anyway… They would put this version on the official website and everybody would still download it and like it so… I guess we are too complicated!
Yeah, it’s a beta afterall, but the fact that it was so hard to distiguish between the different statuses made it unusable for me. It does offer some neat features that you could say MSN 7.5 lacks. I’ll wait for the final version though.
Anyone knows how can we uninstall beta8 so we can return back to good old 7.5???
thanx for any answers!
I just went to Add/Remove Programs and uninstalled WLM 8 and installed 7.5.
So, apparently youre smart enough to write a blog about how bad WLM 8 is, but not smart enough to find the color scheme button? (BTW, its the little paintbrush at the top)
Tyler, next time you comment to a blog entry, please look at the date. The blog entry dates back to January of 2006…over 6 months ago. My comments were about a very early version Windows Live Messenger 8 Beta. Beta.
Besides, where did I ever mention having trouble changing the color scheme? This entry had nothing to do with it besides the fact that I mentioned what the color scheme was in the newer version. Furthermore, to prove even more that you had no idea what you were talking about, the icon for changing the color in the beta version was a paint bucket and not a paint brush. Go see for yourself.
I’m using the final version of Windows Live Messenger 8 and it is a huge improvement compared to the beta version.
hi I am really annoyed that I installed it, because now I dont know how to uinstall it, and I realy want 7.5 back. Can you help me on this?
hey. i got the windows live messenger and then deleted it after a day!! then i returned to the good old 7.5, which was working fine until today so i had to download the new messenger. I don’t mind it as much now but i can’t change the colour scheme so its al really grey!! I know that you are suposed 2 use the paintbrush button but it’s blanked out so i can’t clik it?! if anyone knows how i can solve this please help:)
thank u.
why the color scheme on my msn chat page not working?
Gees, i have windows live messenger, and lately i have noticed ALL TEXT is black! mine, the other persons and well… whoever is chatting comes up in black.. HELP!!!
email me: pink_zoe_devil@hotmail.com
PS: be patient you people who know!
nobody likes a know-it-all
Thanks
ello can sum1 plz help me i cnt c my contacts name in clour even though it is….i know u gta change sum settings…maybe…but i dont know whta to do!!! if any1 does plzzzzz let me know!!! tank u…. xox
thanx
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can u help me i cant go on msn but plz help ergent
bullshit
any 1 there please i am lost and bored
any 1 there please i am bored