MSN.Messenger.7.Beta

I have installed MSN Messenger 7 Beta this afternoon after downloading it from Betanews. You can also download it from the MSN Messenger website. I was quite reluctant to try out it's initial betas in fear that it may corrupt my system or wipe-out my contacts. But today, I seemed to be able to tame my "chicken-little" and got it installed.

At one glance, everything looks more or less like MSN Messenger 6.2 although there are some noticeable changes i.e. the larger advertisement area and the personal information pane.

In terms of functionalities, there are the two most talked-off features - Winks and Nudge. Winks are some animated stuff you send to your chat partner while Nudge causes both you and your chat partner's window to vibrate. Both of these are quite irritating to me and luckily there are options to turn them off.

There is also a new Handwrite tab which Jay seemed to fancy. He has been drawing cats, ducks, mountain sun sets and writting messages to me. Managing emoticons is made easier with a bigger screen and the Options screen has been revamped. There is also more spacing between the names in the contacts list.

Overall, I think it is nice. Had a few crashes but I think it is still cool.