Microsoft releases Windows Live Messenger available at http://get.live.com/messenger/overview. Windows Live Messenger goes beyond the traditional instant messaging (IM) service, enabling people to connect and share, with free PC-to-PC calls and inexpensive calls from a PC to phones around the world, video calling, easy sharing with Sharing Folders, and more.

As the next generation of MSN Messenger, the world's most widely used instant messaging service, Windows Live Messenger goes beyond text IM to help people connect and share with voice, video and more. It also acts as a window to the Internet, connecting people to their e-mail, blogs, search and other Windows Live services with one click of the mouse.

Features of Windows Live Messenger include the following: 

Video Call. The free, synchronized audio and video service in Windows Live Messenger, powered by Logitech International SA, allows customers to view and talk to their friends through their PCs in full-screen video with one click of a mouse.

Windows Live Call with Verizon Web Calling service. Windows Live Messenger connects people beyond the PC. Users can go directly to the Windows Live Call feature and, through the Verizon Web Calling service, place affordable outbound local voice calls to almost anywhere in the world over the Internet.
 
Cordless phones designed exclusively for Windows Live Messenger. Uniden America Corp. and Philips recently introduced phones that make the Windows Live Call feature for Windows Live Messenger available in North America and Europe through a convenient and familiar handset in North America and Europe, respectively, that can be used to make land-line and Internet phone calls from anywhere in the home working cordlessly away from the PC. 
 
Sharing Folders. Now sharing is as easy as dragging and dropping a file. With a new, intuitive user interface, customers can more easily share their files and personal photos with family, friends and colleagues on their Windows Live Messenger Contact List. 
 
Windows Live Contacts. Contact information is always current with Windows Live Contacts in Windows Live Messenger. The feature enables customers to easily share their contact information with whom they want to share it and lets them subscribe to their friends' contacts so they always have their latest contact information.