A while ago, I promised some pictures to illustrate our new work environment, here are some (it’s not much but I’ll take more when we’ve cleaned-up). Development of Messenger Plus! is being moved from my home office to an office tower in Montreal. A dozen people, including myself, will soon be working from that new location, on various Messenger Plus! projects. It took no less than three months to transform this vacant space into a fully furnished, fully cabled office. We have a sweet Windows 2008 R2 server to work with locally as well, everything is going smoothly although it’s always taking more time that you wish it did.

The office already has a new project manager, Jean-François, who’s currently assembling the new team. The guy is bright, motivated, and has a solid experience in the field of software development. Meanwhile, I am working on what I was previously referring to “Project K”, which is a special add-on we’re creating for a special client. Nathalie will soon post more information about it, I’m currently holding her off until I have something nice to show :).

By the way, I’ve not given the name of the Montreal division yet: Kimahri Software. Those of you who’re gamers may see the link, those of you who’re not can rest assured: we’re not opening an Indian restaurant. So, from now on, when you hear about Kimahri, think of Yuna, they both mean the same thing, the difference is only structural.

That’s it for the quick news. Have a Happy Easter everyone :).

When the last build of Messenger Plus! was released, I mentioned something about “project K” in the change log. As things are evolving for the better now, I’m told this can be safely discussed publicly.

Starting next month, Messenger Plus! will stop being distributed as a standalone product and will be part of a bigger software suite distributed by Kaspersky. We were in talk with this company for quite a while now and I’m glad to announce Messenger Plus! will now be distributed with the Kaspersky Internet Security program and sold for a minor price. Of course, current users will receive a proper discount. You have until April 18th to install Messenger Plus! to get the best update price possible when version 5.0 will be released. Specific details about this important change will be published very soon, check-out this site and the vendor’s site for more details.

Edit: Fishy fishy fishy…. :)

Hello everyone.

Most of you know about Plus! Games, Yuna’s new website.  www.plusgames.com

This site  has been live for approximately three months, and is a work in progress. What I wanted to tell you about is the developments in the language support.  Right now Plus! Games if fully supported in four languages  – English (source language), Italian, Spanish (European) and French, and partially supported in 7 languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Turkish, and German.

For those of you who asked why you can’t see the language support, the site works in the language (if available) defined in your Internet browser. So to play the games in any of the seven languages mentioned, please change the default language in your browser.
If you’re familiar with the site, here’s a quick overview. Let us know what you think!

Plus! Games lets you play games by yourself or challenge other players from the more than 62 million users of Messenger Plus! Live. You can choose from a wide variety of casual games (including classics like chess and 8-ball) and earn tokens to boost your playing experience – all for free. You can also connect to Facebook and invite your friends to play.  Enjoy!

Nathalie
Community Liaison
Yuna Software

Hello again from Nathalie. In Canada, we grew up with the expression that if March comes in like a lion, it goes out with a lamb and vice versa.  My initial announcement here last week, which was at the beginning of  March, did seem to bring in a roar of lions and I hope that March will end tamer, more like lambs. 
First of all, I wanted to clarify a few things, although I understand that you feel very disappointed and apprehensive about the recent changes here. I really hope that in time you will feel differently. 

User name:  Unfortunately, my concerns about ecological “green” issues led me to choose a user name that was considered unprofessional and caused suspicion that I was Vanessa.  I have now changed my user name simply to Nathalie.  This is my screen name and the name that I am using to correspond with you. 

Contact info:
You are welcome to email me privately at  Nathalie@yunasoftware.com   You can ask me for my IM address offline.

Title:  I have changed my ‘title’ here to Community Liaison, as opposed to Community Manager.  My role is to be the liaison between Yuna and the Messenger Plus! Community.  It’s not my intention to manage you or tell you what to do!, but to help Patchou out helping you, as he is very busy developing Messenger Plus! 5.  As I get to know you and the product better, I’ll also be able to help you better. 

Thanks so much for those who have welcomed me and advised me publicly and privately to ease me in this transition.  For those who were less kind, I forgive you ). In due time, I’m confident that Yuna will be able to give back to the community what the community has contributed, and you’ll see an improvement in the communication channels.

Location:  I was born and bred in Winnipeg, Canada (or “Winterpeg” as it’s commonly known) , where my family lives, and have a B.A. Honours  from York University in Toronto, where I lived for five years. English is the language in which I’m most comfortable. I understand some basic French, but have a pretty bad ‘anglais’ accent when speaking it. I also speak Hebrew (with a Canadian accent). Presently, I’m working out of Yuna’s office in Israel which means you may see me posting at “strange” times from the office here or at home. I plan to get back to Canada to visit the Montreal offices and my family in Winnipeg, but don’t know when, yet.

Personal details:
As this is not a dating site, I’d prefer keeping much of my personal life private, as many of you do, but I don’t mind discussing interests such as books, movies, music, offline. I’m also going to refrain from talking about politics, religion and sex…I guess that’s pretty obvious, but I thought I ‘d say it for the record.

If any of you who wrote to Vanessa’s former email and did not get an answer from me, please try again at nathalie@yunasoftware.com  and I’ll do my best to answer you as soon as I can.

Sincerely,

Nathalie
Messenger Plus! Live – Community Liaison
Yuna Software