MySpace has soft-launched an instant-messaging client - MySpaceIM - available only on Windows PCs for the moment - writes Mashable (via Micropersuasion). The post points out that AOL just launched a MySpace rival built on its AIM audience, while MySpace has launched an AIM rival build on its social network.

Kareem Mayan, a product manager at Fox Interactive, writes that the new product has "a really simple, clean-looking implementation that feels very solid and exposes the right level of functionality up front." An "Add your friends to IM" link on the client takes users to a page that allows them to add their MySpace friends to MySpaceIM with one click.