Yahoo Messenger for Vista killed off

I noticed today on the Yahoo Messenger blog that they had axed Yahoo Messenger for Vista.  For those who weren’t aware of it, initially the client was just a rumour, then screenshots and demos appeared and then finally it was released as a preview about 10 months ago.  Since then, Yahoo has improved every few months by adding more and more functionality that you would expect from any IM client.

And unlike what was published over at Messenger Stuff claiming that Windows Live Messenger 2009 would be built with WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) or have so-called “WPF Effects” (it has neither), Yahoo Messenger for Vista was written entirely in WPF and managed code (.NET).  In addition to this, it also supported certain Vista only functionality, such as a sidebar gadget to display a favourite contact (poor man’s implementation of Messenger Plus’ desktop contacts) and some unique features like voice visualizations.

That all said, I’m surprised it’s been killed off given that the basic functionality of most IM clients was complete.  The client was relatively stable and it certainly felt “cutting-edge”.  I suspect either current economic events have killed this project off or some internal management restructuring was it’s final end.  It really is a shame that a such promising project has ended ad will no longer be available. 

In an industry like IM where innovation seems to be non-existent, it was quite refreshing to see something new.  It’s unfortunate that now Microsoft and others will have no reason to consider the same route, since there will be no competition in this regard.