On another note, I’m glad to report this year’s contest was a smashing success and lots of people have started to post pictures of their prizes on their blogs or forums. If you haven’t done so yet, don’t hesitate to share your story with us :-). In the meantime, rest assured that major updates for Messenger Plus! are still being prepared. As anything worthwhile, it requires a lot of time and patience so for now, just enjoy Halloween!

As usual, you can read about every improvements and bug fixes in the change log. You can also give your thanks to the translators and the beta testers who help make sure Messenger Plus! keeps being reliable and dependable, every step of the way. Among the improvements, because so many users now enjoy skins and scripts of all kinds, the Import/Export feature of Messenger Plus! now back-ups your entire scripts and skins settings. One less worry for you to have next time you format your computer or you want to bring your set of personal settings with you.

And finally, if you saw nothing else in the change log that motivates you to upgrade, consider this: this release integrates everything that will be needed for the Messenger Plus! 2009 Contest which will begin next week! More about that will be said soon, but those of you who’ve been using the software for some time will probably recognize the little golden icon in their contact list and the meaning of it… you’ll just have to be patient for one more week until the contest and its prizes are revealed :-).

If you visit the Skins and Scripts section of this site, you’ll also notice an avalanche of new products, all free, all designed to improve your Messenger experience, technically and visually. We’re still working on the new database web site, in the meantime, please take a couple of minutes to browse our pages of listings :-). This month, we’re also getting a special treat from Willz: not 1 but 4 complex skins based on the forthcoming Transformers 2 movie. The first skin, Optimus Prime, is already available for download, the next ones will be released once a week until the end of the month.

Despite the lack of visual changes in the software, the change log shows that many things were done under the hood. As often, scripts and skins in particular got their good share of improvements. There are now more than 500 of them in the official databases of this site. This means that you could spend the next month customizing Messenger with Plus!, its scripts and its skins and you would still haven’t seen everything. Big thanks to all the developers who keep on working on these improvements to make our daily IM life better.

In addition to the bug fixes and cosmetic improvements, this new Messenger Plus! also allows external developers to modify Messenger’s encoded windows’ files (UIB files) like they did with previous versions of Messenger. More information about that can be found in the skinning documentation. Note to all the developers reading this: Messenger Plus! is not required to be installed on your users’ computers for this feature to be used. The UIB files generated by Messenger Plus! can be read by Messenger just like the original ones which means that you can do the modifications you want on your system, encode the files and distribute the final result with your application.

Thank you for your renewed trust and support :-). Let’s have another great year together!

If you’ve been using the latest beta version of Windows Live Messenger lately, I have some good news: Messenger Plus! is now fully compatible with it! Although I don’t like releasing anything that’s not “final”, the growing popularity of this new Messenger made it clear something had to be done on my side. For that reason, Messenger Plus! Live 4.79 has been added to the Download section and the Change Log has been updated accordingly.

Keep in mind that this is beta material so no support will be given for it. Some of the improvements (display pictures in notification popups for instance) are global to all Messenger versions so if you like what’s fresh and new, this beta is for you. Also, while you have fun with this new release, get prepared for a very special promotion coming your way for Christmas. Those of you who like action figures and collectibles (yes, you read correctly) are in for a shock :-).

Most of us will download a skin or a script once and will never bother to check for updates later-on. For that reason, the many improvements that are then added by the developers are never seen by most the people who use their work. Fortunately, it is now a thing of the past as the new Messenger Plus! searches for updates of all its components in the official database and will notify you when needed. The new auto-update feature is designed to be as non-intrusive as possible so don’t worry, you’ll never be forced to install anything if for some reason you like your Messenger the way it already is :-). If you’re a script or a skin developer, please review the excellent FAQ made by MenthiX on the forum to make sure your users can benefit completely from this new feature.

Now, let’s talk about skins: some time ago, I talked about a contest… time for less talk and more action! Similar to the scripting contest that happened two years ago, this year’s Skinning Contest is opened to all the skin developers ready to face this challenge: to be the best skinner this world has ever seen!… well, maybe not the “world” but at least the Messenger community. And be sure my friends that the prizes are worth it, but first, here is how it’s going to work: starting today, you have 5 weeks to create the most outstanding skin imaginable. The deadline is September 14th at 23:59:59, Greenwich Mean Time. To participate, all you need to do is submit a skin to the official database (the contest is open worldwide), updates of existing skins are accepted. All the skins will be tested in the current most popular version of Messenger, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 (no need to make them work in the outdated Messenger 9 Beta from last winter).

Creating a skin requires a certain degree of technical skills. You need to be able to create appealing graphics as well as do some basic coding (in XML, a syntax similar to HTML). Fortunately, a lot of help is already available, whether it is on this site, on the forum or on specialized sites such as Design Evolved. Of course, you need to start with the official documentation and once you’ve been through it, take a look at the “Useful Software” part of this site’s skinning section to have the tools of the best skinner in town. The process of creating new skins can be very simple and get very complicated depending on what you want to do and what you want to see. This is a trial and error process but if you persist long enough, your creations will be admired by thousands if not millions of people. And for the next 5 weeks, you have a couple of extra reasons to do it…

Not 1 but 7 Wacom Tablets will be distributed to the winners of this contest. Your skin(s) will be judged and placed into three different categories: originality (something never done before), deformity (shaped windows), and functionality (improved user interface). The first prize for each category is an excellent Cintiq 12WX (check out the video on their site), a 12.1″ TFT screen that acts like a second monitor for your computer and lets you draw directly on the pictures you want to edit with incredible precision. The second prize for each category is a very respectable Intuos3 6*8 with 1,024 pressure levels and professional software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements. And finally, the creator of the one best skin, all categories considered, will get rewarded for his efforts with a magnificent Cintiq 20WXS. This dream-come-true for any graphic designer features a 20.1″ wide screen with a resolution of 1680*1050, has 14 customizable hard keys, 2 touch strips, a special rotating stand so that you can use the tablet like a big sheet of paper, anti-glare and friction coating to simulate the texture of paper and a wide viewing angle. Nothing can compare to this tablet and it’s the most recent and best model offered by the entire Wacom company. You’ll find all the information you need about those three gems on Wacom’s web site but for the 20WSX, you’ll want to take a look at the video in the 21UX section as none exists for the latest model yet.

I hope these prizes will get you going, we’ll now be waiting for your skins! Remember to try to submit your work early-on to ensure that all the basic requirements are met. Only the final version of your skin will be considered for the contest and thanks to the new auto-update feature, you can freely distribute previews of your work if you want. Note that this will also help guarantee that you’re recognized as being the first one distributing this particular skin with this particular idea to avoid possible rip-offs. If needed, more information will be posted about this contest on the forum so stay alert! And finally, if you’re not a skin developer and you’re wondering “that’s sweet but what about me?”, well, you can already be glad to know that your Messenger will truly look like never before once this contest is over. Secondly, I promise to be back with another contest that’s more user-centered with lots of other cool prizes to win, probably by the end of the year :-).

Take care everyone and enjoy the last bits of summer while it lasts. Good luck for the contest!