Drop, charge, and lose the cords
December 18, 2008 4:10 PM PST
Voice, video chat coming to Mac Messenger
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
In some great news from Mac Mojo, the Office for Mac team blog, it looks like Windows Live Messenger for Mac will receive a major update sometime early next year. The biggest new feature update will be AV support for the personal client, which means users will be able to participate in cross-platform audio and video chat using the personal version of Microsoft Messenger for Mac. They are also working on additional features for the personal Windows Live Messenger client and are on track to preview some of the new implementations at Macworld in January at the MacBU booth. The new Windows Live Messenger for Mac with AV support should be available as a beta sometime early next year.
Jason Parker writes software reviews and features for Windows, Mac, and iPhone. If he learned to dance, it would make him a fabled "quadruple threat," but we can't get him to do it. 
I also find it hilarious that Meebo already has support for Vv on MSN on the Macintosh.
The answer is 400 million messenger users. Some folks might think it is easier to install Messenger than to ask the other 400M to all change and coordinate that with their "buddies". Then again, for some folks getting the 400M people to change is easier than changing their minds. :)
AV works on iChat with AIM and Jabber.
The video is clearer than yahoo, with a much higher frame rate.
The audio is far superior to skype.
I find that AIM on windows works best when doing av with iChat.
My Jabber account has my yahoo and msn gateways, so all my contacts are there.
My Mac friends also have the same setup, so we can do av in iChat via Jabber, and still comunicate with our MSN and Yahoo contacts.. all withing iChat.
Very cool
Yahoo Messenger and Live Messenger are now talking to one another, and the Mac client now has webcam and voice, but I don't know if the two talk to one another via voice and video yet.
At this time, your alternatives are: all three of you getting Skype accounts; or you two get AIM/AOL accounts and hook up with his iChat (the preferred method for him); all three of you getting Yahoo accounts; or waiting until MS finishes their Live platform (who knows how long that'll take) - MS has been telling us that AV is close, but we've been waiting for years.........
- by jimines December 29, 2008 10:36 AM PST
- It's about time, we have a dozen users with PC's who aren't going to stop using windows live.
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(12 Comments)Why can't you just use windows vista premium on Virtual machine on a mac an accomplish the same thing with full use of windows live?