These days, it seems like not much is going on around Messenger. Many MSN/Windows Live Messenger dedicated web sites spend half of their times talking about other Windows Live related projects and with summer only a month away, it seems safe to say that the first half of the year will make history (or not) by being one of the quietest period in the life of our Messenger client… what better time to announce the following?

Messenger Plus! Live 4.21 has been released! yeah! a new version! baked so recently that you may burn yourself if you click on the download button too quickly (consider yourself warned). Once served, the first thing you’ll notice is that it contains less fat than before with a total weight of only 3.7MB per portion: it’s healthier for your internet connection and your computer won’t taste the difference. This new version is largely composed of minor fixes with a touch of improvements such as support for the recently added I’m emoticon (use it!), a better environment for script developers, new notification options for opened conversations, better chat logs for some users, a new Turkish translation, etc… people who want cool new features can always get what they’re searching for in the scripts database like Reminder+ which will remind some people of the old Scheduler from Messenger Plus! 3, Plus!Mail to write quick emails to whoever you want without having to leave Messenger, Stat Center to gather an impressive amount of statistics of anything happening in your Messenger and of course, the WDZ fan club script which is a must for anybody who visits the Messenger Plus! forums regularly.

In this new version, you’ll probably notice something else that’s new and if you read the previous news post, chances are that you already guessed what it is: a special “gold” Messenger Plus! icon has been added in the contact list and it’s the icon you’ll soon have to click on to access the very special 6th anniversary contest! I know some of you were expecting the contest to open on the same day of the release but you’ll have to wait a little more. The contest is in its final test phase, it’s big, very big, and because people will be required to have the new 4.21 version to participate, it has been decided that everything will start about a week from now.

More information about this exciting event in two days, on the 19th .

It’s already been 3 months since the last update and still, I feel like I didn’t have enough time to create the new version I desired. Well, new versions got to be released one day or another and it’s a well known facts that developers tend to keep pushing deadlines forever. So, here it is ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, moogles and bangaas: Messenger Plus! Live 4.20 :).

Among the updates, you’ll find complete and proper support for Windows Vista, a new enhanced text copy feature, several fixes, improved compatibility with some systems and new additions to the scripting API (check out the updated documentation for that one). Also, as it was announced previously, this new version includes all 9 winning scripts of last year’s contest, for a limited time only, updated for your pleasure.

Installation of each of the scripts is presented as an option during setup. If you do give them a try, I’d like to point out that a few antivirus programs out there (like McAfee) tend to consider almost any script activity as “suspicious”: don’t worry, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the scripts you’ll find on this site. This behaviour is rather ridiculous as these faulty products will warn you about an unknown script creating a text file while they’ll ignore an unknown program deleting your system files. To solve this problem, you can either put the Messenger executable in your exclusion list, disable the “script scanning” option of your antivirus or, and that’s what I would recommend, get a better antivirus program, one that’s not trying to impress you by detecting anything and just does its job like it’s supposed to do.

I hope you’ll have a great experience with all the new features provided by these scripts. Remember that each of them can be enabled/disabled/removed in the Preferences panel of Messenger Plus!, allowing you to precisely customize the way you want your Messenger to behave. Many developers worked a long time to bring these new features to you and they all deserve many thanks (feel free to use the forums for that). Also, if you like the idea of adding even more options to your Messenger, remember to check the online database where 250 more script packages are waiting for you! They’re all free, all clean, all good :).

The scripting contest announced earlier this month has finally arrived and along with it, the release of Messenger Plus! Live 4.11! this update is for bug fixes only and solves things such as compatibility with add-ons like SimpLite-MSN and softwares such as Windows Live Mail. Some more fixes were made to the scripting API and everything is now ready for the contest!

So, what’s this new contest all about? it’s a contest organised to celebrate the first million of scripts downloaded from the official database on this site. It is opened to script developers only but if you’re a simple user, you’ll soon be able to enjoy a lot of great scripts published as a result of the contest participations. If you’re a developer, now is your chance to either create your very first Messenger add-on with the scripting API or to perfect the one you’ve been working on these past few months! Here is how things will work: the contest is opened to anybody in the world from November 28th to December 19th 2006 (3 weeks). To participate, the only thing you need to do is submit a script that works properly with Messenger Plus! Live 4.11. The script must be free of any obvious problem and if your script is already in the database, an update must be submitted to be eligible for the contest.

One important thing to know is that every participant who submits a working script will be a winner! If your script is accepted for the contest, you will automatically win a Messenger Plus! Live – Script Developer shirt (designed expressly for this contest), in your size, shipped to your home. In addition to that, 3 scripts will be selected in 3 different categories: full featured scripts (big scripts), simple yet useful scripts (small scripts) and most original scripts. The winners will be announced at the end of the contest and will receive the following prizes, in each category: $500 for 1st, $300 for 2nd and $200 for 3rd. Following the end of the contest, a special version of the Messenger Plus! setup package will be created with the 9 winning scripts embedded with the default installation. If your script is selected, millions of people will get to appreciate your work all around the world! :).

Good luck to all of you and enjoy the update, it will probably be the last one of 2006.

A new version of Messenger Plus! Live, labelled 4.10, is now available for download. Of course, the first thing to mention is that this version is entirely compatible with Windows Live Messenger 8.1 (which is still currently in beta though, I can’t guarantee anything for the final release). Some bugs have been fixed, interface windows can now display right-to-left text properly for languages such as Arabic, registry settings have been documented, the whole software is more stable, more enjoyable, etc… update now! ;)

The second reason why this new version is important concerns scripts. A lot of things have been done to improve both developers’ and users’ experience as this feature of the software has rapidly become very popular over the past few months. Script developers can find the list of changes/improvements in the official changelog and users now benefit from a completely redesigned Scripts Database! (brought to you by MenthiX). Coolpicks have been added and will be rotated from time to time to promote some of the best scripts available, all the files have been reorganised in new categories, Windows Live Alerts have been set-up and it’s now easier than ever to find the script that’s right for you with the new browsing options.

So, for now, enjoy the new release and come back soon to get the details on the scripting contest that will soon be organised for scripting developers only (a more general contest will be organised right after it for everybody). Meanwhile, you can already start to work on your scripts with the updated documentation :-).