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โY!Mโ redirects here. For the movie database, see Yahoo! Movies, for the mail service, see Yahoo! Mail.
| Yahoo! Messenger | |
|---|---|
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Screenshot | |
| Developed by | Yahoo! |
| Latest release | 8.1.0.421 (Windows) / 2.5.3 (Mac) |
| Preview release | 9.0.0.922 (Windows) / 3.0b2 build 78326 (Mac) / 2008.01.11.428 (Windows Vista) / December 18, 2007/ November 21, 2007/ January 11, 2008 |
| OS | Cross-platform |
| Genre | VoIP/Instant messaging client |
| License | Proprietary freeware |
| Website | messenger.yahoo.com |
Yahoo! Messenger is a popular advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories.
In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ, it also offers (on Microsoft Windows) features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows, some of which include authorized themes of famous cartoons such as Garfield or Dilbert), address-book integration and Custom Status Messages.Features - Yahoo! Messenger. Retrieved on 2008-02-12. It was also the first major IM client to feature BUZZing and music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars.
Yahoo! Messenger 2.5.3 for Mac, released in 2003, is the current non beta release for Mac OS X. It has far fewer features than the current Windows release and has been reported to be quite buggy. 2.5.3 was also the very last release to support Classic (Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2) operating system. In June of 2006 Messenger for Mac 3.0b1 (build 17006) was released as a beta. This beta had a more modern interface than 2.5.3 and includes non-animated avatars,display image viewing, and some other features comparable to those on the Windows version. However, it still lacked the more advanced features contained in the Windows version, such as PC-to-PC calling, photo sharing, integrated address book, and chat rooms. Beta 1 received a refresh a month later (build 18274) which patched some serious connection issues and added reconnect when disconnected, but then remained unupdated for over a year. Yahoo! Messenger for Mac 3.0 beta 2 build 65474, released September 06, 2007, finally brought chat room support to the mac user as well as supported even more improved interface, tabs, and fixed the infamous scroll issue for users who had Safari 3/Webkit 522+ installed. However, due to unforeseen trouble implementing call feature, that ended up being cut from beta 2 near the last minute. Also, support for Mac OS X 10.0-10.3.9 was dropped in beta 2 based on a poll http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2007/07/02/poll-for-mac-users/ taken by Yahoo! to determine if beta releases should come out faster with less OS support, or slower with more. The latest beta version, 3.0b2 build 78326 (released November 21st, 2007), is required for Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) users because the previous beta 2 releases (builds 65474 and 75170) were unstable under 10.5.x. Each revision of beta 2 has improved upon the Chat interface with additional UI tweaks and features based on feedback sent in on blog and email feedback forms.
There is a version of Yahoo! Messenger for Linux, available from Yahoo as an rpm package for Redhat or as a deb package for Debian. However, being a binary-only package, it works only with Linux on Intel/AMD processors. General-purpose messaging clients, such as GAIM, also work with Yahoo! Messenger.
On December 5, 2007, Yahoo! Messenger announces the release of Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista as a Beta Release.Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista. Retrieved on 2008-02-12. 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.
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 emotionsHidden emotions of yahoo messenger (2008). Retrieved on 2008-02-12.), 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.- Yahoo! Messenger Team announces Yahoo! Messenger 9 Beta
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.BT.com - Withdrawal of BT Communicator
Yahoo! Messenger was originally launched under the name Yahoo! Pager on 1998-03-09.Stay In Touch With Yahoo! Pager. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
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Yahoo! Voice is a Voice over IP PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service Yahoo! Delivers Phone Out and Phone In Voice Services in the U.S., Yahoo\'s \'Voice Over IM\' Targets Skype provided by Yahoo! via its Yahoo! Messenger instant messaging application. It is only available for the Windows platform.
Yahoo! added voicemail and file sending capabilities to their client. File-sharing of sizes up to 1GB was added.
As of 8.0, Yahoo! Messenger has added the ability for users to create plug-ins (via the use of the freely available Yahoo! Messenger Plug-in SDK), which are then hosted and showcased on the Yahoo! Plug-in gallery.
Yahoo! plans to integrate Yahoo! Mail Beta and Yahoo! Messenger.Single Ajax Interface For Yahoo Mail & IM Coming. TechCrunch (2006). Retrieved on 2008-02-24. Conversations will be archived and stored in the same manner as emails. This allows users to search within their chat logs easily, and to have them centrally stored and accessible from any computer.
All versions of Yahoo! Messenger have included the ability to access Yahoo! Chat rooms.
On June 19 2005, with no advance warning, Yahoo! disabled users\' ability to create their own chat rooms. The move came after KPRC-TV in Houston, Texas reported that many of the user-created rooms were geared toward pedophilia. Many regulars in these rooms used the rooms to set up meetings to have sex with children and trade lewd pictures. While it was thought this move came as a result of several advertisers pulling their ads from Yahoo!, a more likely cause was a $10 million lawsuit filed by watchdog groups of internet portals on behalf of a 12-year-old victim of molestation.
Yahoo! has since closed down the chat.yahoo.com site (which is now a redirect to a section of the Yahoo! Messenger page) because the great majority of chat users accessed it through Messenger. In August of 2007, it began requiring word verification in order to use Yahoo! Chat. Officially, this is to guard against spammers and automated bots, which had been a source of frustration for many chatters (This method has proved highly unsuccessful, as many rooms now have more bots than users). However, as this also logs users\' IP addresses, this feature could presumably be used to monitor against the type of behavior that prevailed in the pedophilia-oriented rooms. The company claims to be still working on a way to allow users to create their own rooms while providing safeguards against abuse.
Yahoo! Messenger\'s installation process automatically installs an extra URI scheme ("protocol") handler into some web browsers, so that URIs beginning "ymsgr:" can open a new Yahoo! Messenger window with specified parameters. This is similar in function to the mailto: URI scheme, which creates a new e-mail message using the system\'s default mail program. For instance, a web page might include a link like the following in its HTML source to open a window for sending a message to the YIM user notarealuser:
Send Message
To specify a message body, the m parameter is used, so that the link location might look like this:
ymsgr:sendim?notarealuser&m=This+is+my+message
Offline messaging, a feature long offered by Yahoo!, allows online users to send messages to their contacts, even if said contacts are not signed in at the time. The sender\'s offline contacts will receive these messages when they next go online.
On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced plans to introduce interoperability between their two messengers, creating the second largest instant messenger userbase worldwide: 40 percent of all users (AIM currently holds 56 percent). The announcement comes after years of 3rd party interoperability success (most notably, Trillian, Pidgin) and criticisms that the major instant messengers were locking their networks. Microsoft has also had talks with AOL in an attempt to introduce further interoperability, but so far, AOL seems unwilling to participate.
Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger was launched July 12, 2006. This allows, for Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger users to chat to each other without the need to create an account on the other service, provided both contacts use the latest versions of the clients. For now, it\'s impossible to talk using the voice service among both messengers.
There are various games and applications available that can be accessed via the conversation window by clicking the games icon and challenging your current contact.
The Windows version of Yahoo! Messenger previously used ypager.exe as the name of the instance of the client. It has been changed to yahoomessenger.exe since version 7.5.0 Beta.
Yahoo! recently released a a preview version of Yahoo! Messenger http://messenger.yahoo.com/windowsvista.php for Windows Vista. It has been designed to exploit the new design elements of Vista\'s Windows Presentation Foundation.
The Mac OS X client version 3.0 Beta 2 has been released: file transfers have been re-enabled as have group conferences.
The Windows client version 9.0 Beta has been released. It supports both Windows XP and Vista. It features an improved interface and several new features.
The Windows Vista Beta version 1.0 has been released. It supports only Windows Vista and entitles a whole new user interface and features. It lacks basic function such as webcam support.
There are many versions between those listed here and prior to last version listed here. These are "major releases". See one of several sites listed in external links to find other, older versions of the product.
Yahoo! Messenger (along with other networks such as Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger) is often used as a conduit or "vector" for delivering malicious software such as spyware, viruses, worms, and trojans to unsuspecting computer users. The two methods used by hackers to deliver malware over the IM vector are (1) sending a file transfer with a virus-infected file, and (2) delivering a message with socially engineered content containing a web address (URL) containing active malicious code. Viruses and worms with colorful names such as W32.Yalove or W32/Spybot-MQ have been identified as targeting users of the Yahoo! Messenger network over the past few years.
The threat of infection by these two methods is substantial and growing. The IM Security Center, a collaboration between security companies and corporations, has tracked attacks over IM since 2003 and shows well over 1000 distinct attacks over the public IM networks. The first half of 2007 saw an 84% increase in IM attacks over the first half of 2006. While IM-specific attacks remain a small percentage of overall virus and malware threats, the continued growth in usage of IM, along with the rapid adoption of IM in the workplace (See Instant Messaging) make IM an attractive vector for hackers, and both individuals and companies must take precautions to avoid infection.
The most common method of delivering a malicious payload is the use of social engineering to construct a message that appears to be coming from a contact on the recipient\'s contact list. A socially engineered message is one that is written in a friendly, informal manner, that could easily be mistaken as coming from a friend. The message usually will say something like "Click here to see pics of me from vacation!" or "Is this you?" with a web address -- known as a "poison URL" -- for the recipient to click. Upon clicking the web address, the recipient is connected to a website containing active content, which is immediately downloaded to the recipient\'s computer. In most cases, the payload contains an installer, a number of hidden files containing text, and code which causes the same socially engineered message with poison URL to be sent to every contact on the contact list. When the message is sent to all contacts, the cycle starts again, as each contact believes they are receiving a message from a trusted friend. In this manner, IM-borne malware is capable of propagating very rapidly through company and external networks.
Worms and viruses are discovered on a regular basis by security companies, particularly by the three companies with IM-specific security products, Akonix Systems, FaceTime Communications, and Symantec. According to IM security researchers at Akonix, the number of new threats identified each month is 30 to 35, with a high of 88 in October, 2006.
Yahoo Messenger users are subject to unsolicited messages and efforts to combat it are having little effect.Tired of Yahoo! Messenger Spam?Larry Dignan of Zdnet described the spam as becoming insufferable.
| Yahoo! Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Exhaustive list of products and services | |
| Advertising | Panama ยท Search Marketing ยท Yahoo! Publisher Network |
| Developer Networks/Resources | Yahoo! Gallery ยท Yahoo! Developer Network |
| Search | blo.gs ยท Directory ยท Finance ยท Flickr ยท Groups ยท HotJobs ยท Kelkoo ยท LAUNCHcast ยท Maps ยท Movies ยท News ยท omg! ยท Podcasts ยท Sports ยท Video ยท WWW |
| Communication & Publishing | Flickr ยท del.icio.us ยท Answers ยท Mail ยท GeoCities ยท Live ยท Messenger ยท Voice ยท Games ยท Mash ยท Mobile ยท Go ยท Pipes ยท Yahoo Web Hosting ยท Upcoming ยท Jumpcut.com ยท Rivals.com |
| Computer Applications | Widgets ยท Desktop Search ยท Messenger ยท Music Jukebox ยท The All-Seeing Eye ยท Toolbar |
| Former Products & Services | 360ยฐ ยท Broadcast.com ยท Musicmatch Jukebox ยท Photos ยท WebRing |
| Annual Revenue: โฒ$6.7 Billion USD (2007) ยท Employees: 11,400 (2007) Stock Symbol: (NASDAQ: YHOO), (LSE: YAH) ยท Website: Yahoo.com | |
| Instant messaging clients (and comparison of clients and protocols) | |
|---|---|
| Proprietary and/or single protocol | AIM ยท Gadu-Gadu ยท Microsoft Messenger for Mac ยท MySpaceIM ยท Skype ยท Tencent QQ ยท WLM (formerly MSN Messenger) ยท Yahoo! Messenger |
| Multi-protocol: | Adium ยท Instantbird ยท Kopete ยท Miranda IM ยท Pidgin ยท QIP Infium ยท SIM ยท Trillian |
| Jabber/XMPP: | Exodus ยท Google Talk ยท JAJC ยท Psi ยท Tkabber ยท Gajim ยท Spark ยท Coccinella |
| ICQ: | ICQ ยท QIP 2005 ยท &RQ ยท R&Q ยท Gim-ICQ |
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia