Fanatic Live

Just under an hour ago, a press release regarding the official releases of MSN Messenger 7 and MSN Spaces (coming out of beta) was available at PressPass and MSN Messenger 7 became available to download off the MSN Messenger Web site. It appears it was leaked early by some press who had received it as a demo. Quoting the press release:

Today, the MSN network of Internet services began rolling out the latest versions of MSN Messenger and MSN Spaces in markets around the world. New breakthroughs in video, voice and personalization features in MSN Messenger transform the service from being a quick way for people to keep in touch to being an essential life-sharing connection between friends and family. Integration between MSN Messenger, MSN Spaces and other MSN network services, including MSN Search, gives people a more flexible way to connect with others through instant messaging, Web logging (”blogging”), and sharing music lists and photos.

Over the past year MSN has seen consumers’ appetite for richer, personalized online communications services surge globally, as evidenced by the rapid growth of MSN Messenger and MSN Spaces. Since the MSN Spaces beta version was introduced in late 2004, more than 4.5 million Spaces have been created, making MSN Spaces one of the fastest-growing blogging services in the world. “People all over the world are spending more of their time communicating online and MSN is providing the services they use,” said Blake Irving, corporate vice president for the MSN Communication Services and Member Platform group at Microsoft Corp. “We continue to invest in services that create meaningful, personal and emotional connections for our customers, letting them express themselves in ways that suit them best.”

Read more at the MSN Newsroom.