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tested in the current most popular version of Messenger, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 (no need to make them work in the outdated Messenger 9 Beta from last winter).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!

The problem has been fixed so if you’re one of those still forced to use Windows 98 or Windows Me on a regular basis, you can now download the updated version of Messenger Plus! 3 on this web site which will continue to work beautifully with MSN Messenger.

In addition, I’ve also decided to respond to the overwhelming demand of tickets for the Fantasia movie of this year by distributing 20 tickets more than what was originally planned. We’ll meet and discuss what you want to see in the forthcoming version 4.70 of Messenger Plus!. See you soon :-)

If you’re a resident of the province of Quebec, you simply have no choice but to go there and watch at least one of the 120 movies that have been selected for this year. The list has already been posted on Fantasia’s web site and the official program will be on sale next week. Like last year, people who get their hands on it will see a full page advertisement for their favourite add-on, only this time, a special surprise awaits you. Actually, it’s more a clue than a surprise so ladies and gentlemen, start your bets now!

Now, about the movie Messenger Plus! Live is sponsoring: No Mercy For The Rude. The debut feature from Korean director Park Cheol-hie, who’d previously worked under Lee Jang-wo and Jang Sun-woo is sure to go down in history as a major moment in the evolution of Asian pop cinema. There will be no mercy for any self-described fan of quirky Asian action-comedies who misses the chance to see this movie on the big screen. In other words: it’s going to kick ass!

If you love action and dark humour, then this movie is for you, and I have some good news for you…

Like last year, I’m inviting all of you to go see the movie and go grab a bite after the screening. This will all happen on July 14th, Monday evening at 7:15pm. I’m also offering 30 tickets for the movie as well as exclusive Messenger Plus! / Fantasia shirts. All you have to do to is wear the shirt the night of the screening and shout “install the sponsor!” in the streets (well, let’s say this requirement is optional :-p). Sounds interesting? send an email with the number of tickets you’re requesting, the shirt size you’d prefer, your full name and your postal address (edit: sorry, no more free tickets. You can still get some for a few bucks at Admission). If you already got a shirt last year, please mention that too, I’ll send you the tickets but I’ll keep the shirt for somebody else (except of course if you really want a new one).

Be quick! with more than 350,000 users in the province of Quebec alone, you can bet these tickets won’t have time to catch much dust on my desk. Of course, I’ll also be attending some other movies during the festival. If you see me, don’t be shy and come and say hi! Fantasia movies are best enjoyed when you’re with friends. Et si vous parlez français, c’est encore mieux, on se comprendra plus facilement ;-).

So, don’t miss No Mercy For The Rude this year and be sure to read more about it on the official web site which includes a link to a nice video trailer. A special Fantasia skin for Messenger is also available here, courtesy of Willz. See you at the movies!

To celebrate these achievements, a skinning contest will be organised during summer. You will all be invited to participate and showcase your talents and ideas. Special prizes will even be distributed to people who just use the skins and don’t create any. So, if you have ideas for a new cool skin the world may enjoy or if you were already planning on updating your existing creation, now is the perfect time to start working on it. The official documentation, guidelines and special tutorials can all be found in the resources for skin creators page.

All the details surrounding this contest will be posted on this site in June. People in Montreal, get ready for a new excellent Fantasia movie sponsored by your favourite add-on in July. Stay tuned!

If you’re a script developer, you’ll find many new functions of interest in this release, like UploadFileFTP,  GetElementPos, ExtractFromZIP and support for synchronous callbacks with GetCallbackPtr. Skin developers will enjoy even more improvements, like DateRange restrictions to make your skin change depending on the current date, advanced new features for Color resources to create customized colorization values and gradient colors, the addition of Font elements to distribute and use special fonts in your skin, the possibility to create a separate About Box window, Environment tags for PlusSkin elements to create conditions based on things like the current version of Messenger, and more! Just check the Change Log and download the latest version of the documentations to see it all.

Of course, even if you’re just a simple user, all the updates that are related to scripts and skins still concern you. You’ll need the latest version of Messenger Plus! to be able to enjoy upcoming scripts and skins that make use of these improvements (and trust me, some good stuff awaits you in the near future for both, many very talented people now work on Messenger Plus! extensions). Also, in addition to all these updates, the new version contains an extra dose of bug fixes to make the software even more stable and enjoyable which brings me to something special I wanted to talk about.

Almost anybody who’s been using Windows for an extended period of time knows about the “Send Error Report” window. This window popups when a program crashes and asks if you want to send additional information to Microsoft about the problem. What some of you may not realize is how precious this information can be and how useful this system is. The reports are gathered together, classified, organised and made available to the associated software developer by the Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) team at Microsoft. For years this team has helped me improve Messenger Plus! with the reports you’ve sent. Tens and tens of important errors have been found and fixed thanks to the service they provide. I’m proud to be able to deliver a highly reliable product to my users and I wanted to point out that my job would be much more difficult sometimes if the Winqual team was not here to help. The people who work in Winqual are among the most professional people I’ve worked with at Microsoft and I just wanted to thank them for the service they provide, especially considering that most people have no idea of who they are and what they do ;-).

Thank you for using Messenger Plus! and keep on sending those error reports when prompted :-). Have fun with the new release!

More than 40 skins have already been submitted and accepted in the official skin database and many more are coming. Because contests are always a subject of joy, I’m happy to announce that sometime this year, a big skinning contest will be organised, benefiting both developers (prizes) and users (new, better skins). Details will be announced when appropriate but as of now, something new and cool has already been put in motion in the world of skins: Will Ingles, the creator of popular skins such as Ev0, as agreed to dedicate some of his time to the creation of new skins inspired by movies and music groups.

What do they looks like? here are two example of these skins. The first one is inspired by Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who, in theatres next week, and is already available as a download for all versions of Windows Live Messenger. The second one is based on the Iron Man movie that will be released in May and will demonstrate how much Messenger Plus! skins can change the look & feel of Messenger as a whole.

Not bad hum? New themed skins will be added on this site every month and will allow you to completely transform your Messenger windows to match your favourite movies, singers, and more. Your Messenger experience will never be the same, that’s guaranteed, and you’ll probably never want to go back to the original interface once you’ve tried a couple of skins either. Also, if you enjoy switching from one look to the other regularly, or, if you just don’t want to miss the release of a skin related to a movie that you’ve been waiting for, sign up to Messenger Plus! Skins Alerts to get instant notifications. Needless to say, all of this is free so enjoy the current skins as much as you can and be prepared to be amazed!

A new kind of scam has grown popular since last year. Some people have been registering domain names that look similar to mine in order to get money from my users. Some of these sites try to look like legitimate download sites, offering lots of other programs, while others bluntly rip off parts of the official site to look official. In every situation, the setup file downloaded from these sites asks to input a code which is generally obtained by paying a couple of dollars or euros by the mean of text messages (SMS) sent from your mobile phone. Some of these sites even replace their download link with a legitimate one from time to time to stay unnoticed for a longer period of time.

While we are still trying to shut down many of these sites, the problem is now important enough to give a clear official warning: Messenger Plus! is a very popular product and for that reason, is an easy target for scammers. Legitimate download sites will never, ever, ask you for any kind of monetary compensation to download or install Messenger Plus!, its scripts or its skins. If you have any doubt, go directly to msgpluslive.net to get your files and when recommending the program to your friends, give them a proper url. Don’t let them search for the software in a search engine as I’ve seen some of the bad sites advertising on Google, making the scam a very easy one to push onto some people.

Messenger Plus! is a software that’s free to download, free to install, and free to enjoy. If you fear a setup file you downloaded may have been tampered with, check its digital signature (right-click and select Properties). All the binary files I distribute are signed by “Patchou” with a VeriSign Class 3 certificate. If Windows displays anything else than “Patchou” and “Messenger Plus! Live” when you try to launch the setup, the file was not approved by me for public distribution and for that reason, it should not be trusted.

In order to conclude this news post, I can’t help myself but to point out something obvious and pathetic. In my opinion, problems like this one should be easily avoidable in our time. Sites registered by scammers should be recorded in some kind of big online database and people who try to access them should receive an appropriate warning. This is the job you would expect big security companies such as McAfee to perform well and as it turns out, McAfee offers this kind of service already! it’s called SiteAdvisor and you can even install an add-on to automatically protect you while you surf. The problem? According to their database, msgpluslive.net is rated red with a big “don’t go there” cross and is said to link to ”unwanted programs”, including 11 “trojans”. If you check messengerplus.ms, one of the scammers’ web sites, you’ll see a green checkmark and a note: “We tested this site and didn’t find any significant problems”. Life goes on…