Geek and a Half

January 8th, 2006 by Jake

I recieved an invite fron none other than BigBlueBall.com the other day, and now I’m on it 24/7. It’s a great tool for instant messaging, and when WLMsgr and Yahoo! Messenger come together, it’ll make it easier for most, if not all of us. Before I say anything, here are some screenshots:

As you can see, it’s got a totally redefined look, a new name, a new face. You can also draw and send text the way Tablet PC users are used to. There’s the usual array of extra tools, as well…Video, Audio, Games, Activities, and a new concept (I think) where you share a folder on your computer and you can pick which buddies can access and get files from that folder. Kind of a variation of Hamachi, but I prefer the latter. In addition, they’ve added a “contact card”, where the front of it displays things like recent MSN Spaces blog posts, MSN Spaces pictures, status, and when you “flip” the card, the back has an editable text area. Interesting feature, something useful for buisness settings and people with large contact lists. It’s also fully integrated with Hotmail and Windows. Hotmail allows you to remotely sign on to Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger doubles as a mail notification program for Hotmail. Messenger will also display the number of new e-mails on my date-clock screen on my Logitech G15 keyboard.

Overall, it looks like a great program for someone who really enjoys all the frills of instant messengers. I’m still sticking with good old Google Talk, though, because of its simplicity.

As a thanks for reading my post, the first 5 people to comment on my article and provide a valid e-mail address will recieve a Windows Live Messenger invite from me.