Now that Windows Live Messenger has been integrated into Skype, the death of Microsoft's long-standing IM client is coming soon.
The Verge reports that Microsoft is gearing up to retire Windows Live Messenger in a few months. The news arrives by way of unnamed sources who claim that the announcement will be made soon – perhaps sometime this week – and that Skype will be pushed as the new default instant messaging client.
Live Messenger's death has been expected since Microsoft's announcement that it purchased Skype for $8.5 billion back in May 2011. At the time, critics were afraid that the Redmond company would disrupt the VoIP service's momentum by limiting or even severing support for non-Windows platforms. But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer came forward and said Microsoft had no intentions of cutting off other platforms.
"I said it, I mean it," Ballmer told reporters after the conference call. "We will continue to support other platforms. We are one of the few companies that has the track record of doing this beforehand. We have done a lot of work bringing Office to the Mac and we’ve done a lot of great work with other Apple devices. Fundamental to the value proposition of communications is to reach people whether they’re on your device or not."
So far Skype has remained true to its roots despite Microsoft's acquisition. If anything, it's become more mainstream now that the v6.0 client features integrated Live Messenger support. Users can now merge their Microsoft and Skype accounts, thus combining Skype, Live Messenger and Facebook connectivity into one streamlined service on their phone, tablet or desktop.
Windows Live Messenger first launched as MSN Messenger back in 1999 during a time when AIM (AOL's instant messenger) and ICQ were at the top of the IM client chain. The service switched over to the Windows Live Messenger label back in 2005 with the launch of version 8. Microsoft eventually integrated the IM service into the Xbox 360 Spring 2007 Dashboard Update back in May 2007.
Just recently the death of Windows Live Messenger became apparent with the launch of Windows 8. The Redmond company released a Modern UI app for Skype, but so far it hasn't released a version for Live Messenger.
Someone please forward this to Tim Cook.
Soon, there will be no more "Live" branded products. YAY!
Furthermore, the newest version of the program seems to be extremely bloated, or woefully inefficient.
It takes a long time to install - and similarly so to remove from the system.
Since Skype included WLM contacts in 5.11 Beta version (am on v6 now of course), I decided it was prudent to remove WLM for good from my system.
At least its one less software to worry about (and seemingly inefficient one at that).
Geesh I've totally forgotten about WLM. I still have some people on it, but never talk to them, or I do so on Facebook. I rarely use AIM, YIM and GoogleTalk anymore, either.
Yes, caps makes this comment more important and happy.
Cheers!
That said,, while Skype is rather reliable, it has the kludgiest interface imaginable - one almost up to MS's standards! With no configurable contact customization, and a non-configurable user interface it is a pain in the ass to use despite its greater reliability.
Heck I would be ecstatic if they simply copied Yahoo Messenger's interface - which is by no means perfect but still light years ahead of Skype.
And Skype support for paid user accounts? It makes PayPal look efficient!
What has Messenger got to do with social? Nothing, totally wrong track there
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OK, you can import Facebook contacts into Messmger, but you can do Facebook integration with just about everything these days so not exactly Microsoft pushing it, more Facebook pushing it
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Good troll attempt though, keep practicing, maybe by the time you get to be 15 years old you will have mastered some of the more subtle points of the troll master