if you were hanging out for the production release or failed to get an invite you'll be thrilled to know that Windows Live™ Messenger is now available for download... for everyone :)

For PC-to-PC Calling, Improved etter video conversations, Sharing Folders, Your two-way address book and Windows Live™ Alerts grab yourself a (massive 15.3 MB) copy of it from http://get.live.com/messenger/overview, take note of the version 8 (build 8.0.0787.00) system requirements though...
Multimedia PC Pentium 233 MHz process (500 MHz recommended)
Microsoft® Windows® XP
Minimum 128 MB of RAM (256 MB recommended)
Up to 50 MB of hard disk space for installation, 15 MB to run the program
Minimum 800 x 600 screen resolution
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 SP1 or later

feel free to comment on this at our our WackyB.co.nz forum thread Windows Live™ Messenger out of beta