Changes in the WLMv9B3

I WAS going to put a list of changes in the new Windows Live Messenger, but dwergs at Mess.be pretty much sums it up.

{Insert some free time here}

Installing Windows Live Messenger 9 on Windows Server 2008

Update: New post with Final installer... posted! Refer to a newer post to download it.

It’s a good thing I had reinstalled Server 2008 because I would crash into so many troubles if I were busy by the time WLM 9 went gold.

This process is similar to what was done with WLM 8.5 in the previous wave (Hint: Mess.be). This was really useful because it only installed –THAT- and worked in Server.

However, not everything was a walk in the park. Having installed Server 2008 on both my Desktop and Laptop I was pretty much screwed. BUT! I had a Plan B! (god, I love plan B’s). {Intermission: Hold on, some ZUN music change at time of writing} Ok, I remembered that I installed XP via Virtual PC while I was in my electronics class, so I installed it there.

I really dig the new installer and it’s MUCH faster than Wave 2 (according to my experience) (And I installed 3 products too…). Anyways, so I let it download and install the products that I wanted.

Due to 8.5 experience, I quickly went to look for a .MSI file, but all I found were temp. files. Not very useful although they did show Messenger’s file size. I tried changing the extension to .msi and .exe, but both failed. So I Plan B-fied and took a look into the –big- log. In that log there were scattered installation URLs that the installer used. I ”quickly” found the one belonging to Messenger and downloaded it. HOWEVER the work is not done.

Attempting to install Windows Live Messenger with just the installer will cause a corrupt installation that can’t sign in with error 8000FFFF (not to mention that there’s no entry in the Programs and Features list). So, I applied Plan B to this step too (sorry folks, I don’t reach Plan C). I searched and downloaded all URLs that I found relevant to Messenger. Entries like Contacts, WlLogin, etc. And a catalog.xml file for luck (I really don’t know why I downloaded this anyway…).

I opened up each installer and allowed them to install. After I finished with all of them, I re-opened WLM’s installer, and it WORKED!

I wasted about an hour figuring this out, so I hope this helps other Windows Server 2008 users who also wants to use this.

I should be able to do a post with the end-user noticeable changes near the weekend. (If I don’t do it later today).

Thoughts on the supposed WPF the leaked Windows Live Messenger build uses.

Well... I pretty much broke alot on my blog while testing...





Anyway, I'm taking this chance to write about what I've seen about the design of the now old leak.





These are the two types of display that can be seen. Left is Aero and right is Basic and XP. Looking at the Aero version, the window isn't hold by a hideable frame. Instead, the frame is the edge of everything. Next we look at the right, Aero-less windows look just like it did before, with a hidden frame. Just as my printscreen detected, it works just like it did in 8.5.

This shows how WPF is being implemented. I know, nothing fancy and not even close to what Yahoo! Messenger did. But I do know that it feels more stable while in Aero (specially while dragging). This piece of coding that was added has a big potential... But how much is used is up to the developers.

Now, to try to get rid of the "undefined" text and the ad from here!