So a co-worker sent me an 'invitation' to install MSN Messenger 8.0 Beta. I have completely hated 7.5, I think the user interface is childish looking, and all of the 'extra' crap like winks, and nudges, etc. are totally stupid.

I'm glad I installed 8.0. I like the look of it, and there are some great new features. I can finally name my contacts what I want them to be! No more "captain kick" I can now name that person by their name... people change their screen names all the time, and I have to constantly click to see the email address to spark my memory of who someone is. The video is sweet. Sound, a little sketchy.

There are of course down sides. My first attempt at the new 'File Sharing' feature was seriously disapointing. Scott Hanselman and I were chatting via MSN video and voice, and all of that data was working relatively well. He sent me a photo of his new son, and it chugged along for a couple of minutes. Scott's comment was, “man the video is coming accross fine, why can't the file transfer work better?“ I totally agree.

The advertising seems a bit more exageratted in the main IM client window. I like the fact that Google Talk, and Skype don't do this.

Another cool thing is you can add notes, and key search words for contacts. So if you have a friend that is a co-worker, you can add a keyword called work and friend to each contact. You can then search for a term, showing all the contacts that matc. Kind of a hack I suppose, but still nice.

I have invites, so if you would like to try it out, post a comment and I'll send you one, I'll need your email address.