Announcing the Messenger for Mac 8 beta release:
After a long effort, I am pleased to announce the beta release of Messenger for Mac 8 which supports audio and video calls.
Have you have ever wanted to do an audio call or a video call from your Mac with a contact on the Windows Live network? Starting today you can! Using your Live ID, Messenger for Mac users can now make AV calls to each other. Messenger for Mac 8 is also the first and only Mac-desktop client that can do calls with Windows Live Messenger 2009.
Why did it take so long?
We have been working hard on this feature for a long time so the answer is not a lack of effort. The honest answer is that AV calls are a lot harder to implement than one would think and after we got things working last year, we had to postpone the release because of significant protocol changes we needed to support in order to stay compatible with the latest version of our Windows Live desktop client.
Why is this a beta release?
This is a beta release because we are still putting the finishing touches on the full application and some things are not finished yet. However, we are very aware of how patiently you have been waiting for AV support so we decided it was better to get it into your hands now as a beta release than to make you wait even longer.
The official release of Messenger 8 will happen with the next version of Office for Mac – Office for Mac 2011. When Office 2011 is released later this year, beta users will be updated to the finished version.
Are you still here reading? Head to our downloads page and start making AV calls! We hope you are as excited about this new feature as we are.