AOL Tests New AIM Express

America Online has opened public beta testing for AIM Express 4.0, the latest incarnation of its Web-based real time communications service. The 4.0 milestone sports the look and feel of AOL 9 Optimized, but has more changes in store before its final release to ultimately mirror the Windows AIM interface.

This release will soon support Netscape 7.1 and Mozilla 1.4 on both Windows and Mac OS X. Users of America Online will need to use an external browser for testing. Customers experiencing other issues can sort through a list of known issues.

"AIM Express is designed to be used when people are away from their own computer and do not have the full AOL client or full desktop AIM Client installed," said AOL spokesperson Sheila Tran. "It can be run directly from a Web browser and does not require software to be installed on the PC -- so you can IM from any computer with an internet connection -- such as a friend's PC, an Internet cafe, a public library or wherever."

The availability of this test comes as AOL is refreshing its entire line of Web properties with new releases. Last week, AOL 9 Optimized launched for broadband users, trailed by the official release of AOL Communicator.

The AIM Express beta is immediately available on its launch page.