madmatt

Windows Live Messenger will be made available to the public in 8 days, Friday 16th June 2006. The successor to MSN Messenger 7.5, Windows Live Messenger is the first edition of the MSN Messenger brand to be released under the new 'Windows Live' moniker.

Windows Live represents Microsoft's biggest push into the Software-as-a-Service market, Windows Live Messenger is the first software package to be released out of Beta in the Windows Live range, Windows Live Search (Desktop), Windows Live Mail Desktop and Windows Live Toolbar are expected to follow this year.

Source: Bink.nu

---

madmatt

Update

Last week the Bink website announced wide availabilty of the new incarnation of Microsoft's Messenger to be released on June 16th. Today WinFuture has been informed by their source, who is involved in the launch process of the software, that Windows Live Messenger 8.0 won't be ready for a 06/16 launch. One Neowin member speculated that this was to do with a bug issue that needs taking care of.

It's anybodies guess as to the reason -one thing is certain, Microsoft release dates are not officially announced for a reason. They simply have the habit of slipping beyond their own target dates.

Source: WinFuture

---