Yahoo! wants to know how long you want to wait for Yahoo! Messenger for Mac
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
Faithful Macenstein reader Phil has alerted us that Sarah Bacon, the product manager for Yahoo!’s IM app Messenger, is asking for users’ opinions on when to release the next Mac version of Messenger.
Apparently she thinks that Mac users have had so much fun waiting 6 months for the iPhone that we would like to patiently wait for everything.
There is a poll with 2 options presented.
1) Release it sooner without support for OS X 10.3 Panther (e.g. would only work on 10.4+ Tiger)
2) Wait a bit longer and include support for both 10.3 and 10.4.
Now, we don’t see why these have to be mutually exclusive. Why not release it now for Tiger, and work on adding Panther support later?
Anyway, being the up-to-date tech geeks WE are, we’re firmly throwing our vote behind option 1, and we suggest anyone else who paid money to upgrade to Tiger do the same. Think of it as an extra “feature” of Tiger, to help justify the upgrade cost.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:00 am
leopard will be coming out in a few months..! if yahoo will release a tiger version, and most people upgrade… does it mean we’d have to wait until we ALL upgrade to 10.6 to get a 10.5 version for Yahoo Messenger?
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 am
I think it would be backwards compatible.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:26 am
Tiger’s been out something like 2 years. If you haven’t upgraded by now, I think it is reasonable to expect there are some apps you will be shut out of.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:15 am
Why isn’t never an option? Who uses Yahoo?
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:33 am
I think they’re operating under the assumption that we waited nearly five years for the (still much crippled) Messenger 3 beta for Mac.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:35 am
Though I suppose I shouldn’t complain. At least we’re not getting the same treatment from Yahoo as that latchkey kid, Linux.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:53 am
“Apparently she thinks that Mac users have had so much fun waiting 6 months for the iPhone that we would like to patiently wait for everything.”
Uh, she writes: “We know you want the new Mac version of Messenger asap”. Yo Doc, something wrong with your reading skills?
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:56 am
No Lauri, I caught that.
I think this just seems like a really silly question for them to ask. Obviously, anyone who likes Messenger and Has Tiger wants it now, and anyone running Panther would want to wait. It’s up to Yahoo to decide what they are supporting. Seems to me the smartest thing to do would be to get the quickest version out to the people now (Tiger), and then work on adding “legacy” support (Panther).
Every day they wait is a day another day a couple Mac users get used to a different IM App.
-The Doc
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
Yahoo Messenger has no positives for me since it does not support audio chat. I use Adium to IM with my Yahoo buddies since it is compatible with all other IM apps as well.
Also, most Mac users I know use iChat or Skype for audio conversation. So, Yahoo is far too late in this game.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:35 am
Ha Ha, so you’re saying there should be a 3rd poll option for “Don’t bother”?
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:17 pm
How about the option, “We’ll work with the Adium team to make that the new Yahoo chat client?”
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Not really bothered either way if it doesnt support audio & video chat
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Yeah, what Anamika said. No audio/video chat, what’s the point? Hell, I use Skype now over iChat because I keep having problems getting audio and video chats working through my router [and Apple’s error message is SO useful, Error #8, chat failed].
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
who cares? I use adium (http://www.adiumx.com/) for Yahoo and MSN together (and it supports a load of other networks as well). Why bother with anything else?
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Adium? Who cares for Adium? It does not support audio/video, it’s 2007, hello? Yahoo Messenger *with*audio* would be great, as soon as possible. It’s already late. Please, don’t look back at 10.3, Leopard is coming, it’s time to upgrade anyway.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Wait, what’s Panther?
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
who even uses yahoo’s messenger client anymore?
I don’t even have it installed, and anyone I know uses AIM at the very least, and maybe have other protocols too - but they all use AIM.
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:30 pm
3: I don’t care because I use Adium.
Matthew
July 5th, 2007 at 9:20 am
The logic behind that poll is ridiculous. Why the hell need Yahoo Messenger be exclusive to either of those two options? Release the Tiger compatible version now and release the Panther compatible one later. Yahoo Messenger has been in beta stage for ages. I wonder what’s up with their Mac development team. They should feel a little bit shamed for even asking the poll…*sigh*
July 5th, 2007 at 11:15 am
I just want them to hurry the f–k up! YM broke with Safari 3’s beta so I’m having to use YM crippled. Not good.