New version of Windows Live Messenger Beta

Microsoft have released a new version of the Windows Live Messenger Beta (what will be the replacement for the current MSN Messenger client, and probably merged with Windows Messenger too) to registered beta testers.

The new version mainly shows a newly designed user interface, which looks a bit reminiscent of Windows Vista (see the screenshots below) and probably numerous bugfixes I don't know about.

One of the irritating things is they have reverted the little people icons back to the Messenger 7.x style, and to me that feels like a step backwards. I'm sure they will have sorted the icons by the time it goes RTM, however.

I have invites, so if anyone wants one, leave a comment below.