Messenger Gadget

Our first release (V1) was about giving you the basic messenger functionality in the gadget. The next version (V2) was about improving the code architecture and responding to the biggest user issues and some requests. This release (V2.4) is mainly in response to user feedback.

Here is a list of the features we added in this release:

• Unread email counter: This is the feature that people have requested the most, so there you go. Now you can see when you have unread emails on your Hotmail account and how many. You can change this using through the "Gadget Settings". By default the counter is shown only when there is unread emails on you account (don't show if no emails or all emails are read), but you also have the option to always have it visible or don't have it at all. You can also double click on the unread email counter and it will take you to your Hotmail inbox.
• Improved readability: We got some user feedback saying that it was hard to read the text in the contact's list (mostly on CRT monitors) so we made the text slightly bigger and made it sharper so that it is easier to read compromising very little to amount of text displayed.
• Other bug fixes

As always to download Messenger Gadget you can go to http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=5f6450f8-8876-4a81-a32b-46eac16fd69f. Also if you like the gadget remember to give it your rating by clicking on the stars on the download page.

Eric A. Vera
messenger.gadget@hotmail.com
http://messengergadget.spaces.live.com

Why is this message showing?

This is showing because you are using the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. For a reason we have not figured out yet the gadget will not refresh when using 64-bit version of the sidebar. So we decided to give you a warning and a way to fix it instead of just giving you a gadget that will not refresh.

Does this mean that I cannot use the gadget with 64-bit Windows Vista? 

No. 

Then how do I make it work?

    1.  Close the sidebar using right click on the sidebar icon on the system tray then select "Exit"

    2.  Click on the "Start" button and type "%systemdrive%\Program Files (x86)\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe" and then press enter

    3.   It should work now

Eric A. Vera
messenger.gadget@hotmail.com
http://messengergadget.spaces.live.com

This post is two weeks late, but Messenger Gadget V2 is out!

Download link: http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=5f6450f8-8876-4a81-a32b-46eac16fd69f&bt=1&pl=1

We listened to your emails, reviews and blog comments and based on that we did some changes. Most of the complains from users were due to contacts not synchronizing or due to error messages showing so we re-designed the gadget's code to increase code quality. This resulted in less (I have not seen one yet) error messages and now the contacts are always synchronized. Below is a list of more new features.

List of new features:

• New UI - We changed the look of the UI from a squared on to a rounded better looking one with a light gradient on the contacts background so it is not just a plain white background. Also other small improvements like now you can click on the group name to collapse/expand it and you don't have to try to click on the arrow icon like in V1.
• Localized in Spanish - If your computer is using Spanish as its locale (ES) the gadget's UI will be in Spanish. I'll add more languages if I find people interested in translating it (it is just a matter of translating 3 files of text!).
• Status Drop-down -Change the status drop-down to blend with the background and also added the username beside it so you know with which account you used to sign-in if you use more than one.

• Scroll Bar - There is a new better looking scroll bar.
• Contact Emoticons - Now you'll see the emoticons on the contact list!

• Settings Dialog - More organized settings dialog with some additional settings.

• Update Bar - Very cool feature that will let you know when there is a new version of the gadget available at http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=5f6450f8-8876-4a81-a32b-46eac16fd69f&bt=1&pl=1.

• Error Handling - Now the gadget shows an informative message if your Sign-in fails with instructions on what to do.
• Under the Hood - We also made some changes to the gadget's code so that it is more stable and try to avoid the annoying error messages some people have been reporting. Also some changes to the way we handle messenger sign-in/sign-out fix the "my contacts are not refreshing" problem.

Hope you like V2 and remember to leave your rating if you like it!

- Eric Vera
messenger.gadget@hotmail.com
http://messengergadget.spaces.live.com

Well, the downloads of Messenger Gadget v1 have been going on like crazy for the past couple of weeks. So of course people have been requesting features and fixes, and posting comments. So for those of you who were wondering, YES we are working on the next version of Messenger Gadget. Daniel and I have been working on it and doing a lot of noticeable and some not so noticeable (but helpful) changes, such as improved error management, UI changes and also making the gadget easier to translate to other languages like Spanish and posibly others for the next version.

If there is a feature that you would like to see or an issue that you are having with the gadget (not listed in our previous post on known issues), post a comment or send us an email to messenger.gadget@hotmail.com (we'll answer as many as we can).

- Eric

Some stuff people has been reporting or asking about that we would like to fix, but we have not found a way to do it:

• Groups - Some people have been complaining about contacts not showing up in the right groups, but short answer to why it does not work is that it does not work with the messenger ActiveX (if you don't know what this is think of it as a component of the system) we are using and we cannot change that.
• Custom Contact Name - This is the feature that allows you to change the display name of a contact. The reason for this is not working is the same as above. The ActiveX doesn't have a way for us to read that name that you wrote to better identify a contact.
• Gadget Don't Refresh (My contact's status or my status don't change) - Some people have been reporting this. After some investigation we noticed that this happens on x64 machines (write to us if this is not your case). We are trying to find the best solution for this problem. For now there is a simple work around that will launch the 32-bit process for the sidebar and make it "refresh"
  1. Close the sidebar by Right Click on the sidebar icon on the system tray
  2. Click on the "Start" button and type "%systemdrive%\Program Files (x86)\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe"

*If you have been having any other issue not listed here please write a comment or send us an email to messenger.gadget@hotmail.com.

- Eric

Wow! 12,000+ downloads in the first week! That's awesome!

First I hope you are all enjoying the Messenger Gadget as much as we are. Here we will be posting about current and new features, updates, known issues, and other stuff we come up with.

Add us to your RSS reader or add this page to your favorites and keep coming back for news about this cool gadget.

If you have a Vista PC and don't have the gadget yet download it at http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=5f6450f8-8876-4a81-a32b-46eac16fd69f&l=1.

If you are already enjoying the gadget then remember to go back to that same page and put your rating (which you can update if you change your mind and think you like it more).

Talk to you soon,

Eric

PS. Stay tuned as we'll be updating the gadget soon.