Instant Message Post
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Written By Reprise Media | June 20, 2006 | Share This
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Yahoo!’s got some neat tricks up their sleeve with the latest release of their instant Messenger app (version 8.0, in beta), says TechCrunch. They’ve opened the service up to developers, who are invited to make plug-ins using flash and javascript to customize (and hopefully enhance) the IM experience, and several useful plug-ins already exist.
One type of plug-in makes sharing and using files collaboratively easier. For instance, two chatters who’ve installed an ‘event finder plug-in’ and who are trying to make evening plans can pull up calendars and maps, viewing and interacting with them simultaneously. Such plug-ins, known collectively as “conversation plug-ins,” pull shared content into an IM session.
Another kind of plug-in, the “personal plug-in,” allow users to customize their IM client only on one end, by showing information like news and RSS feeds without the need to open a browser.
Meanwhile, in Redmond… Microsoft has some instant messenger news as well. They’ve taken Windows Live Messenger out of beta (we heard it from BetaNews, if you can believe it) after first releasing it to the public a little over a month ago.
The announcement is part of an overall push for Windows Live, which reportedly has 20 services coming along “in various stages of testing.” They’ll soon be inviting more Hotmail-ers to try out Windows Live Mail, and they’re talking about opening the whole platform up “to allow advertisers, developers and businesses to build their services on top of Windows Live.” The company plans to sink $1.1 billion of their overall research budget into Windows Live next year - leaving $5.1 billion for everything else.
Topics: Search: Innovations |