Article by George Norman

On 10 Jun 2009

A while back Yahoo! decided that it wants those of you who are still using older versions of Yahoo! Messenger to switch to Yahoo! Messenger 9 and consequently rolled out automated upgrade requests. Some of you made the switch, some of you decided to tough it out, but now there is additional reason to make the transition – Yahoo! has decided to retire Yahoo! Messenger 6 and all other versions though version 7.5

Product Manager Sarah Bacon explains: “As Yahoo! Messenger gets older so too do some of the “vintage” versions that are still in use by some users. In an effort to provide the best experience for our users and maintain high security standards, we will officially retire Yahoo! Messenger versions 6.0 through 7.5 in August, 2009. This means that if you are currently using a version of Yahoo! Messenger that is below 8.0, you will no longer be able to sign in and use it after the retirement date in August.”


If you are using Yahoo! Messenger 6 or any other version up to 7.5, you will start getting in-product messages about the upcoming retirement. So what are you supposed to do? My personal advice is to upgrade to Yahoo! Messenger 9 and I support my advice on one assumption and one fact:
Assumption: you have grown accustomed to using a desktop client and you will want to do so in the future. There are of course alternatives to the desktop client, but you will see that they are not that attractive.
Fact: Yahoo! Messenger 9 comes with enhanced functionality and security, not to mention a whole bunch of new stuff. A detailed guide on what’s new and how to customize the look of YM 9 is available here.

As I’ve mentioned above, there are alternatives that you can use to stay connected via Yahoo! Messenger, even though versions 6 through 7.5 will be retired. The first alternative is to use Yahoo! Messenger for the Web , which does not require you to download and install anything, it just requires you to keep a browser windows open. The second alternative is to sign into your Yahoo! Mail account and use the built-in IM feature which is even available in Yahoo! Mail classic (thought I mention that because if you are still using YM 6 then chances are you did not rush to the new Yahoo! Mail either, just like you did not rush to get the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger).

Last but not least, you could also stay connected using Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone.



Tags: Yahoo!, Yahoo! Messenger 9

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