Everywhere people are wondering when Microsoft will release the final versions of Windows Live Messenger 2009 and the other products of the Windows Live Wave 3 suite. Just to make it clear: we’re talking about the client software programs, not the web services already rolling out at this very moment. According to an e-mail that MSN Direct watch people, including Messenger Geek Jonathan Kay, received today, the “release to market date” for these client products is February 10, 2009 (the mail is accidentally talking about “2008” which is obviously a typo).
We can thus look forward to some 4 months of beta testing the Wave 3 client programs (namely, Messenger, Mail, Toolbar, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety and Outlook Connector) and to report any bugs we find, before their final is being released to the public.
Could also be the date on when they enable Messenger as an auto-update. 4 more months in beta status sounds like a too long time judging by the current build and other things i picked up on.