Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 beta has been released. Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 is designed to support both Windows XP and Windows Vista, but is not the candidate version of Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista much awaited for. 6 new localized language versions are added in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 namely Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India (Hindi), and Vietnam, making localized Y!M available in a total of 25 international markets.

Yahoo! Messenger blog (dead link) highlights new features of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0:

  • A whole new look for your contact list. Keep it in detail view to see larger Avatar images for your friends, or switch to compact list view (in the Contacts menu). Plus, you can just hover and click to IM, SMS or call a friend.
  • Brand new skins and emoticons! Click the dot near the top of your Messenger window to choose a skin, and check the emoticon menu for the new ones that were inspired by user entries in Emoticontest.
  • New Flickr integration in the photo sharing feature. Easily share photos from your Flickr.com account, or save photos shared with you directly to Flickr.
  • A new in-line media player that makes it easy to view maps, photos and videos from sites like Yahoo! Video and YouTube right in the IM window. No plug-ins needed, no extra downloads — it’s built right in. Just send a video, map or photo link to another friend who’s also on 9.0 to try it out.
  • New features for voice calls. You can have your incoming Phone In or free PC calls forwarded to another number like your mobile, home or office phone, even if you’re signed out of Messenger (Phone Out account required). Plus there’s a new way to get voicemail. When someone leaves you a voicemail in Messenger, an email is sent to you with an MP3 of the voice message attached.

Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 beta can be downloaded from http://beta.messenger.yahoo.com/ (resource no longer available). However, the setup file msgr9us.exe downloaded is a small launcher program which will in turn download the actual installer for Yahoo Messenger 9.0. If you need a full version setup installer which can be used for offline installation and distribution, you can use the following direct download link.

Download free full version of Yahoo! Messenger version 9.0.0.797 Beta setup installer: ymsgr900_797_us.exe (resource no longer available)

Update: Yahoo! Messenger v9.0.0.907 Beta