One of the most competitive categories in our first reader's survey, this year's Best IM Experience title was awarded to an instant messenger that has been on the scene almost as long as IM itself. In 2008, Yahoo! Messenger released its ninth incarnation, boasting a number of improvements and bug fixes.
For what its worth, Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 delivers a pretty smooth experience from start to finish. The recent addition of access to contacts on Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) makes Yahoo! pretty strong competition for the AIM/ICQ client and other standalone single protocol clients; in fact, if I were the others, I would take a page from the Yahoo! book about what is right with their client, including the strong deliverance of experience-making features, such as Yahoo’ new in-line media player, new voice call features and a wide-range of new personalization options. Download Yahoo! Messenger for free. Features support for Windows Vista.
Guide’s Comments
I was surprised just how competitive this title was from the start of voting; towards the end, however, it appeared to be a clear race between third-party newcomer Digsby (looking to pick up its fourth IM Best Award title) versus the venerable Yahoo! Messenger. Experience (as in length of service) seemed to be a factor in choosing which product to award for overall experience; nine versions later, our readers still believe Yahoo! is a viable choice for instant messaging.How Readers Voted
- Digsby 35 percent (3,317 votes)
- Meebo Two percent (208 votes)
- Yahoo! 60 percent (5,590 votes)
- Windows Live Messenger One percent (125 votes)
