Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories.
Yahoo! Messenger was originally launched under the name Yahoo! Pager on March 9, 1998.[1]
In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ, it also offers (on Microsoft Windows) features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows, some of which include authorized themes of famous cartoons such as Garfield or Dilbert), address-book integration and Custom Status Messages.[2] It was also the first major IM client to feature BUZZing and music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars.
On December 5, 2007, Yahoo! Messenger announced the release of Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista as a Beta Release. It includes transparent Glass Windows and a new skin and GUI for the Windows Sidebar and program. Also integrated new tabs for going between different chat windows. As of October 25, 2008, Yahoo! Messenger for Vista version is no longer available.
On October 29, 2007, Yahoo! Messenger announced the release of Yahoo! Messenger 9 Beta. It features a new and improved interface, new emoticons (also hidden emotions[3]), the integration with Flickr account and a new in-line media player which enables the user to view maps, photos and videos from sites like Yahoo! Video and YouTube right in the IM window.[4]
Yahoo! has announced a partnership with Microsoft to join their instant messaging networks. This would make Yahoo! Messenger compatible with Microsoft's .NET Messenger Service. It also made Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger compatible with Yahoo!'s Network. This change has taken effect as of 2006-07-13 - Yahoo! Messenger has integrated instant messaging with Windows Live Messenger users, and is fully functional.
British Telecommunications' BT Communicator software is based on Yahoo! Messenger. BT Communicator was withdrawn on 2006-12-31.[5]
[edit] Features
[edit] Yahoo! Voice
Main article: Yahoo! Voice
Yahoo! Voice is a Voice over IP PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service,[6][7] provided by Yahoo! via its Yahoo! Messenger instant messaging application. It is also available for the Mac OS X platform.[8]
[edit] Voicemail and file sharing
Yahoo! added voicemail and file sending capabilities to their client. File-sharing of sizes up to 2GB was added to Yahoo meseneger
[edit] Plug-ins
As of 8.0, Yahoo! Messenger has added the ability for users to create plug-ins (via the use of the freely available Yahoo! Messenger Plug-in SDK), which are then hosted and showcased on the Yahoo! Plug-in gallery.
