Yahoo! Messenger releases Mac IM 3.0
- A new interface built in Cocoa, very OS X looking.
- Avatars and animated emoticons, which I’m sure will appeal to a wide audience.
- Webcam support, compatible across PCs and Macs – though I personally IM when I don’t want to communicate intimately.
- Custom stealth settings, eg. everybody but my ex-girlfriend can see that I’m available if I don’t want to talk to her.
- Visual notifications using the Growl system.
- IM alerts for Yahoo! Calendar, Mail and Personals. Good idea on their part, but IM alerts for any RSS feed would be even better.
Coming soon: chat with Windows Live (MSN) users. It will be a beautiful day if even the smallest amount of forward progress towards IM compatibility appears.
I’ll be very curious to see if the VOIP and plug-ins available to PC users are included in the future features the company promises.