Microsoft Getting Ready For New VoIP Messenger

It has been reported that Microsoft is soon to release Live Messenger beta - a new version of its ever popular MSN Messenger currently sporting over 185 million active accounts worldwide. According to a Messenger enthusiast site Mess.be that is scheduled to happen today. It is to include calling in and out to regular phones for a fee, much as in the recently announced Yahoo Messenger expansion.

The VoIP telephone part of the messenger software is to be supported by the MCI company. In the words of Blake Irving, corporate vice president of the MSN Communication Services and Member Platform group at Microsoft “Our new Windows Live PC-to-phone voice feature requires a partner that shares our vision for connecting people globally. We are thrilled to work with a proven global technology provider like MCI to provide the bridge between PCs and phones with high-quality voice services that enable people to communicate more easily, conveniently and inexpensively. Our customers are going to love this"

During the beta phase calls out to the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Western Europe will start atUS 2.3 cents per minute and totall number of countries to call will be over 220. The pre purchased calls out will be available in $5, $10 and $25 units.

As another improvement, the Live Messenger - as it is to be called - is planned to contain a new file sharing folder, allowing both communicating users to share and edit it's content in real time.

All that is part of a greater Microsoft set of 'Live' products to be released earlier in 2006. It will include Office Live, Live Mail, Live Safety Center and Live Search Mobile among others.

By the way, if you are interested in testing new Microsoft products like this one you can inquire at this site http://connect.microsoft.com