Messenger Links

So the big news from MacBU this week was the release of Messenger for
Mac 6
. This was an important release for us because it was our first
actual application that was shipped as a universal binary. For those
keeping track, we previously shipped
shipped some universal drivers, and the Microsoft Entourage.mdimporter
file that we shipped as part of our 10.2.3 update last spring was
universal, so we're getting there. In any case, hats off to the team for
getting this out. Some of the new features in Messenger for Mac 6
include:

-
Universal binary

  • Yahoo Messenger contacts
  • Custom emoticons
  • Split windows
  • Spell check
  • Status messages
  • What I'm Listening To

Nicole over at the Inside Windows Live Messenger blog posted a little
conversation between Windows Live Messenger and Messenger for
Mac. Check it out here:

Messenger for Mac vs Windows Live Messenger

MM says:

    Hi, I am Messenger for Mac

WLM says:

    and, I am Windows Live Messenger (WLM)
You look great, what has changed?

MM says:

    Thank you, I just got a makeover I am now 6.0!

Be sure to read the whole thing. :)

Other sites around the net picked up on the new version of
Messenger. These
include Eric
Lam
, ActiveWin, MSTechToday, O'Reilly
E-Tel
(Daniel has some comments and suggestions, which we'll
note.),
TUAW(Scott's comments are noted also.), and
finally Paul
Stamatiou
(One of my favorite Mac bloggers) gave it a shout.

Of course, one of the big question left is about when we're going to
get Audio/Visual support? Mary addressed that question in the MacMojo
blog
in this post.

Finally, I wanted to mention that Apple released Update 10.4.8 on Friday and it included a couple of fixes for Office for Mac. These
fixes are:

- Resolves an issue for Microsoft Word in which Word might stop responding when saving a file that uses certain OpenType fonts.

Resolves an issue for Microsoft PowerPoint in which the display  
resolution might not change as expected after switching from a  
PowerPoint presentation to a different application via  
Command-Tab.

A big thanks to Apple for getting these updates out there.

A commenter
at TUAW noticed a significant performance increase in Word
after installing the 10.4.8 update and it seems really fast after the
update on my Macs also, though I haven't done any benchmarks on it. If you haven't
installed the update yet, check your Word launch times before and
after and see if there's any difference.

Have a nice week!