achougoo: Hi suffering suckertash, howz u?
Sachin_Tengse :Fine just settling down at Germany. It’s difficult unless u know their language.
Sachin_Tengse :Hey check out Buggs is online too.
achougoo: Yes I see the yellow light. Let me initiate a conference. I’ll invite both of you.

Invitation to conference by achougoo! Accept, Refuse, Cancel.

Sachin_Tengse :Hey pal! I’m in.
Buggs_bunny :Hi Thomas, What’s up doc?
achougoo : Yippee. Hey Thomas, tell buggs about our plan to lay a BEER pipeline from Frankfurt to Mumbai.
Sachin_Tengse :Ha Ha. Oh yes Hich is just around the corner.
Buggs_bunny :What’s “hich”?
achougoo :Beer festival in Germany…rabbit head!

Well readers, that is a part of transcript of chatting between myself in Mumbai and my brother in Frankfurt, Germany. We were later joined by another cousin from Dombivli. The bill Rs. 25 (VSNL) and Rs. 50 (MTNL) for a 1-hour chat. Imagine the 1-hour ISD bill from Mumbai to Germany. I shudder to think of it. Then again this wasn’t illegal. It wasn’t net-telephony too. It was simply instant messenging or should I call it Yahoo! Messenging.

Frankly speaking, I have never used AOL or ICQ and MSN Messenger. So for several years I have been using only Yahoo! Messenger. So this review is all about the features of its latest offering (build 1704 or 4,1,0,997) and there is no comparative analysis. Yet from what I have read about Yahoo! Messenger, I believe that the present version is a cut above the rest.

The new version is a 2.29 MB download from the Yahoo site and is an exe file that installs over your previous version just like that – absolutely one double-click and a rest is smooth install. No need to restart the PC too.

BASIC FEATURES:
1. You can chat in different groups present on yahoo server without visiting any website. Beware though that this carries all the disadvantages of chatting such as bad language, abuse, yahoo id accessible to all those who are logged, violation of privacy, unknown sex/face of the person you are chatting with and virus/worms crawling the net.

2. You can “Search for friends” and “add friend” to your list if you know their names or Yahoo id. This list remains on their server and loads every time you log in. This is a treasure feature as it is independent from which PC I am connecting.

3. Once logged, the friends list loads up. There are two settings. You see ALL the friends in the list and status whether they are logged or no. The other setting (View menu) allows you to see only those in your list who are online. Double-click on a name and a chat box opens through which you can chat with only that person. NO INTERFERENCE.

4. If you are already logged in and later a friend logs in, you get an alert saying “XYZ is now online”. Also there is a knocking sound.

5. Similarly you get a message alert with a “crashing” sound whenever you log in saying “You got ‘n’ messages. Go to Yahoo mail, OK.” Besides this there is another rectangular strip at the bottom of screen for sometime as well as a white envelope icon in your system tray, clicking on which, opens up your default browser and takes you to password verify screen. If you are already logged in and a new message comes, a rectangular strip pops up at the bottom of screen with the subject line of the new message. CALL THAT CONVENIENCE! I like that feature, since I know beforehand whether it is urgent and I should access my mail box or its just a newsletter from CNET or CIOL.

6. The new version begins automatically and has icon in system tray for quick start and access to features of Messenger. It also indicates login on/off status.

COLORFUL TYPING: You can type using several fonts (try using common ones since the other user may not have it on their PC), font sizes, colors. It pleases me to tell you that its there. Select the palette icon in chat window where you see some color strips. At the bottom there are two options “Custom color” and “color effects”. In color effects, you have two options, the color blend effect (like rainbow text) and the alternate text. You can also select the colors through add/remove options and they have an example of how the text will appear before you click OK button.

Then again there is a range of emoticons, which are really COOL and you don’t have to remember what to type to get a particular emoticon. Just select one from the list.

INTERFACE:Very clean and tidy with neat arrangements of buttons and menu that allows us to chat and access all features available in Yahoo. The new version has skins that are available on net. However this is not easily installed. The skin file is usually a zip file. You have to manually unzip it to “C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Skins\{folder name}\” (where folder name is the skin name you want). Copy the “settings.ini” file from default skin folder to this new folder. Then this name will be displayed in themes list available in “Login---preference” settings on messenger. A little complex operation but not that hard.

ORGANIZING FRIEND LIST:There were initial complaints that organizing friend list is a complex and unfriendly procedure. It is but as easy as a click operation in new version. Create a group and select friends and click n drag them on group name and they are transferred to that group.

FILE TRANSFER: This is quicker than through e-mail service. File gets transferred and downloaded fast and you can chat and confirm the whereabouts of the file. You can provide settings and manually specify the anti-virus application file so that the incoming file will be checked accordingly. I have tried this many times and it was smooth and fast all the time. In fact my VJTI friends prefer this quick way of transferring file while chatting away.

VOICE MESSAGING:If you are not good at typing, invest some money (Rs. 200 – 300) in microphone and speakers and you can chat as mentioned above. Only this time you speak, instead of typing. Yahoo! Messenger even comes with a new audio setup wizard whereby you can check your microphone settings and sound control. The chat window has a little button “voice enable” that opens up further to reveal the name of person talking with a sound level meter against his/her name. You even have a volume setting.

PC to PHONE CALLS: Users with sound-equipped PC can initiate calls from PC through Yahoo! Messenger. Such calls are transmitted over the net to tele-switches, which relay the call to its final destination giving real time, uninterrupted full duplex voice communication. Earlier this service was available only in USA but not it is possible in many countries. But there are two aspects – firstly this is illegal and Vijay Mukhi Gang and cyber cell are equipped to trace such calls. (Remember Net2Phone doesn’t work in India). The second aspect is that it requires user to buy Yahoo! Card of price $10, $25 or $50 and these calls are charged (nominal though such as $0.1 for U.S., $0.4 for U.K.).

WEBCAM SUPPORT: This is the latest offering and one need not set the web cam. The messenger does it for you. It is possible to see list of people viewing your web cam and any user can be removed from this list. You can set permissions to allow who can view you web cam. Also if your friend is using web cam and permits you to view it, it will appear in the list with the words “View my web cam” besides his name.

All this for free is quite something. Yet the flaw of friends not being able to connect when “I am invisible” or “I am busy” setting is on, remains. You cannot set that xyz and abc can see me even though I am busy, which I believe is possible in ICQ. But overall it is a good messenger service.


Recommended: Yes