Microsoft Messenger 8 reaches beta, adds video chat

It was several months ago when Microsoft last updated us on the progress of videoconferencing capability within Messenger for Mac; while version 7 added A/V support for corporate accounts connected to Live Communications Server, the crowd of personal users who connect to MSN/Windows Live were left out of the fun. Happy days are here again, though: a beta version of Messenger for Mac 8 is now available, and it adds A/V chat as well as interoperability with Windows Live Messenger 2009.

The app isn't free of rough edges yet, but MS decided to let it out in its current beta state rather than have users wait until Office for Mac 2011 ships around the holidays. How thoughtful!

You can download the beta from the Microsoft Mac site. It requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and only runs on Intel Macs.

Thanks to Nik & Chris P.