http://ideas.live.com/

I was thinking... as Windows Live Messenger 8 BETA has been public for a while now, can't we have a public beta of Messenger Plus! Live as well?

"Not going public because found bugs are going to give a bad impression for Messenger Plus!" argument isn't reasonable anymore guys, come on.

Microsoft is over with that attitude since they released WLM8 BETA to the public. We all know BETA is not the final product.

You said it yourself, the Windows Live Messenger Beta is not the final product and this has always been said: Messenger Plus! Live will not be released until the Windows Live Messenger is released fully.

traxor, I understand Messenger Plus! Live will not be released until the Windows Live Messenger is released fully.

Anyways, this has been the case:

Messenger Plus! Live PRIVATE BETA builds were released when Windows Live Messenger PRIVATE BETA builds were released

Messenger Plus! Live FINAL build will be released when Windows Live Messenger FINAL build is released.

What I am trying to say is:

Messenger Plus! Live PUBLIC BETA builds should be released when Windows Live Messenger PRIVATE BETA builds are released

The private beta builds that were released were not officially released. They were leaked by some of the testers (who have now been removed from the testing list and banned from the forums) and Patchou has tried his hardest to prevent people using these builds.

Patchou wants a good product, with very few bugs. Messenger Plus! Live has been coded from scratch so it needs extensive testing to find every bug possible (not every bug, but just most)! Releasing a beta would mean releasing an incomplete build that would still have lots of bugs, Patchou doesn't want this, Patchou wants a build that is complete with very few bugs, and doesn't want to release a public build for a beta that is subject to change.

If he releases a beta, then a new version of Windows Live Messenger comes out, the beta has a chance of not working with the new Windows Live Messenger (because of changes in code etc, something we saw in the branches build while testing). This means that people will get very annoyed with Patchou and keep bugging him to release another build...

Just being smart that's all.

Ok thanks traxor. I respect Patchou's decision there.

By the way, I never said the Private BETA builds were officially released. Just like Private BETAs of WLM8 were handed out to selected Beta testers (including me) the Private BETAs of Messenger Live! Plus were handout out only to selected Beta testers.