Yahoo’s Vista Messenger Setting New Standard
While no doubt Google’s simple and clean applications have been a hit with some users, I’m really impressed with what Yahoo is showing off in its new Messenger for Windows Vista. The product isn’t out yet, but looks to be almost ready, and they’ve got a video showing off its capabilities.
The new Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista takes advantage of a new technology in Vista called the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), which makes it easier for developers to create applications that use rich graphics without some of the massive coding and design work previously involved in such applications, and with better performance by taking advantage of native Windows Vista technologies. The Vista Messenger sets such a great visual standard for rich WPF applications in Vista, that it actually puts to shame a lot of what Microsoft has been developing to show off its new operating system, and that’s a good sign.
While it looks great and has some really cool features (seriously, check out the video) I’m sure it isn’t for everyone, including a lot of people who swear by Google’s designs. Still, I wonder if we’ll ever see from Google products that are visually arresting, and not just because of immense amounts of white space. I wouldn’t mind a Google Talk that had just a little bit of extra design work in it, taking advantage of the power of the computer I paid good money for. Because I really like Google, does that mean I have to give up on rich, beautiful, feature-filled applications, all in the interest of simplicity? How does everyone else feel?
(via Neowin)
[…] UPDATE - I’ve written more about Yahoo’s Messenger at InsideGoogle, including linking to a video of it in action. […]
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I think the new Yahoo! Messenger looks awesome. Although I hope for the conversation field to be more opaque in the final version (you can barely read with the current setup).
And I feel the same way for Google applications. Come on, they can be simple, but do they have to be ugly also?
Comment by Pharod | January 11, 2007
Simplicity rocks!!
Comment by Luis | January 18, 2007
Ah, finally.
1) Microsoft constantly felt the need to break Windows XP’s interface conventions with their Messenger. I always hated the fact that WMP and MSN looked different from all my apps - especially since they were Microsoft’s own! I do -not- want apps to have skins that are different from my operating system.
2) Same goes for Google. Google Talk should look like a normal app, not something as though it’s been ported to Windows and is still using its old interface.
3) I like this video. It shows how Yahoo has integrated their messenger’s interface with the operating system - I just hope that if it comes available for Windows XP, it won’t stand out there either.
4) I hope some of the graphics will be toned down a *little* bit. That soccer window they showed is a bit heavy on animations. I also hope that while resizing your contacts, their avatars are only displayed at native resolutions.
All this being said, I’d still prefer a good native solution from Microsoft, as ALL my contacts use the MSN network - it seems you can only choose a goodlooking messenger OR the features MSNP offers, but not both.
Comment by Tim | January 19, 2007