Rumors began circulating on the Web recently that Microsoft was killing off its Messenger instant messaging application for the Mac. Microsoft, however, says that reports of Messengeris death have been greatly exaggerated, and that development of version 7 is well under way.

The original rumor claimed that Messenger for the Mac version 6 would be the last version of Microsoftis IM client, and that the company would replace the application with a new product in the future.

It looks like Messenger for the Mac 6 wonit be going away any time soon, and will be included with Office 2008 for the Mac. Messenger 7 will be available sometime after that.

A Microsoft spokesperson commented "The Mac BU just reached a milestone in the development process of the next version, Messenger for Mac 7.0, with the recent launch of a private beta for a select group of enterprise customers in an Office Communication Server 2007 environment who can try out the new Audio / Visual capabilities for business users."

Mac users interested in Messenger for the Mac 6 can download it for free at Microsoftis mactopia Web site. An official release date for Version 7 has not been announced.