Announcements

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 BT Communicator was withdrawn on 2006-12-31.[