Shoutbox

Hi,

a new version of Messenger Plus! is now available for download! Many things have been updated in version 4.60 but if you’re not a script or a skin developer, chances are you won’t see much difference compared with the last update. Still, among the improvements you’ll notice that WMA sound files can be selected for Custom Notifications, all the extra Plus! features now work fine in Mobile Device chat windows, and notification popups are now shown in a better way.

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!

Patchou