RE: Downloading Live Messenger 8.5 standalone?

i am just upgrading my MSN Messenger over a few PCs and therefore looking at
a standalone.

with a bit of research, i believe 8.1 was the last standalone hosted by
microsoft.com, 8.5 is now integrated into the 2MB Windows Live Installer,
which then fetch your selected component over the internet during install. i
think this is stupid for not having a standalone, i am sure they have their
arguments.

later i found something even better, Pure Messenger. it's a patch to remove
the Messenger's marketing feature, which left you with a pure messenger
platform. found out more
http://pank.org/im/

what's best is they have standalone patched versions available to download
as old as version 7! one stone two birds.

sources: Wikipeidia and a various file searching sites.