Microsoft to Issue Fourth MSN Plus Beta

Microsoft alerted a core group of beta testers that a new build of MSN Plus, formerly named MSN 9, will be available for download and evaluation early next week. The forth beta release throws in various improvements, and shines light on some new features MSN has up its sleeve since the open beta began in August.

MSN Plus is the low-cost alternative to MSN Premium, another iteration of the service catered toward broadband subscribers. According to sources familiar with the project, the upcoming release has improvements to its overall performance and stability, e-mail, MSN dashboard, and the calendar. Changes have also been made to parental controls and the address book.

E-mail now includes: support for multiple accounts, spam reduction through a reporting feature, a "share photos" button to illuminate the feature, better POP3 support, and improved dialogs, indicators and layouts. In addition, various bugs that hampered the sending and receiving of e-mail were also addressed.

The MSN dashboard has undergone another series of UI enhancements. Superfluous alerts have additionally been eliminated in the Alerts fly out. Beyond the dash, MSN Calendar has also been targeted for a series of cosmetic and functional upgrades.

Microsoft is issuing MSN Premium with a custom My MSN home page, refined dashboard, as well as assorted productivity applications such as Money Plus, Encarta Plus and Photo Plus. A free, subscriber-only premium video feed will also be integrated into the client.

MSN Plus strips down these features, offering a set of core browsing, e-mail and communications features for a lower price.