TechConnect - MSN Messenger 6 Public Preview -= www.techconnect.ws =-

REDMOND, Wash. -- June 17, 2003 -- Instant messaging (IM) got more spirited and savvy today with the worldwide availability of a public preview program for MSN® Messenger 6. The launch ends the era of "vanilla" instant messaging, when everyone's IM interface looked the same; :-o was considered an expressive emoticon; and IM lovers had to go elsewhere to play games or share live video.

MSN Messenger 6, available beginning today at 11 a.m. PDT from http://messenger.msn.com/download/v6preview.asp, helps users create their own online identities through customized display pictures, backgrounds and emoticons. They also can share more of themselves -- silly or serious -- with IM contacts by competing at live online games, sending photos to their friends, or sharing animated emoticons that breathe life into that sad old :). In addition, MSN Messenger 6 lets users connect in fresh, new ways -- via a webcam, a multitude of mobile devices or a Tablet PC -- while blocking spam and helping protect privacy.

"MSN Messenger 6 lets everyone create their own digital personality and play in a virtual playground with friends from around the block or around the world," said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president for MSN. "Consumers told us they wanted a place to gather and have fun online, and we've delivered a hallmark example of MSN's commitment to delivering the best communication services for consumers worldwide."

Designing a Digital Self With MSN Messenger 6

IM lovers who are tired of generic interfaces and a lack of personalization features can let their individuality run wild with MSN Messenger 6. More than 30 new emoticons allow users to express their feelings graphically and, for the first time, through animated images, including a birthday cake with flickering candles, a happy face with a blinking eye, and a sad face that scrunches its eyes and cries droplets of tears. MSN Messenger also lets users take their IM experience to the next level by easily creating their own emoticons with any image they can create or upload.

MSN Messenger 6 also offers innovative features that allow users to do the following:

Choose a personalized background from a wealth of options such as cartoons, sports or international locations; create their own background from favorite photos or logos; and share favorite background themes with IM contacts
Select customized display pictures of their favorite pet or celebrities or other pictures to represent themselves to contacts
Choose from more than 150 fonts and 16 colors of type to represent their personal style
Save favorite IM conversations to a personal hard drive with just one click via message logging

Within hours after downloading MSN Messenger 6, Max Wong, a senior product manager for a technology distribution company in New Zealand, personalized his IM interface by using a picture of his car, a red Nissan Silvia S15, as his display picture. As his personal background, he picked a picture of him and a group of friends from a recent dance party.

"I'm loving this new release," Wong said in an IM conversation. "Personalizing is all-important as it allows you to inject your own look and feel to what could otherwise be a work tool. The same goes for other items I use every day, e.g., my car, my phone. It becomes a direct extension of my personality."

MSN couldn't have added the ability to save IM conversations at a better time for Ingra Ostheimer, a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Her husband, who is an Army staff sergeant, is currently stationed in Kuwait. "It is sentimental; sometimes he says something I want to be able to easily save so I can recall our conversations," Ostheimer said in an IM conversation. "Now I can do this without having to cut and paste the message into a Word doc."

She also was quick to begin using other personalization features. "It's really easy to integrate your own pics onto the screen," she said. Her display picture is of her dog, Sir Arthur, a 9-pound Shih Tzu.

Mike Montee, an eighth-grader at Sunridge Middle School in Pendleton, Ore., uses one word to describe MSN Messenger 6: "Tight." What was the first personal emoticon he created? One with a picture of actress and model Carmen Electra.

In addition, to coincide with the availability of the preview version, MSN will launch a Messenger Preview Group. The group will launch with custom emoticons, backgrounds and display pictures for users of MSN Messenger 6 to download and share with others. By joining the group, users can upload their own custom elements and share them around the world. The group can be found at http://groups.msn.com/messengerv6beta/.

More info at Microsoft.