Yahoo Messenger for Vista preview available

Yahoo is set to release a preview of Yahoo Messenger for Vista on Thursday.

It's just a preview, or a very early version, so it doesn't have all the features other versions of Yahoo Messenger do, such as voice, Webcam, chat rooms, text messaging to mobile phones, easy photo sharing and conferencing. Those features will come later.

What it does have is a new interface, and it lets you organize conversations into tabs and drag and drop tabs out to create a new window. You can also keep favorite contacts by dragging them into the Windows Sidebar gadget, send enhanced emoticons, change the color of IM windows, adjust the display size of the contacts, arrange your contact list into multiple columns, and send files as large as 2 gigabytes.

"We know it's been a long wait for Yahoo Messenger for Vista and we can't thank you enough for your patience," says Josh Jacobson, senior product manager for Yahoo Messenger for Vista.

Yahoo offers preview for Yahoo Messenger for Vista users.

(Credit: Yahoo)