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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20222998

Apparently Microsoft is shutting down Windows Live Messenger in March next year, to focus on Skype.

I dislike this change. Most of the people I know use Messenger. They do not use Skype. There is no guarantee they will transfer to Skype. What use is a messenging service if the people I want to talk to don't use it?

I use MSN almost exclusively.This news pisses me off greatly.

This has to be a joke.

Windows Live Messenger is how LittleKagsin and I chat. I guess 5-ish months is time to make alternate arrangements, but what a pain.

bhamv3 said:

What use is a messenging service if the people I want to talk to don't use it?

Click to expand...

That's the problem they're trying to fix. With so many competing services that aren't interoperable you'll find more and more people that you can't talk to.

It's 2012. We've had instant internet messaging for well over a decade and the major providers still haven't agreed on a common, interoperable platform. Jabber was supposed to be it, and Google signed onto it, but everyone else is still maintaining their own API and platform. They all provide SDKs so others can latch onto them, and you can find a plethora of programs that sign onto all the major services unifying it on the user's desktop, but that user still has to maintain a separate account with each of the services, and the unification should happen on the internet, not on the user's device.

Skype has everything MSN live has, and most importantly, it has more users in more countries. Many - and probably most - people who have MSN live also have a skype account already, so it will only be a tough transition for some, and while some smaller portion of those will swear off microsoft altogether it's not going to make a huge impact.

And, of course, the reason they don't agree to a common standard is because they can't add new features easily enough. Yeah, email is universal, but there are no new features for decades, and it's riddled with problems (authentication, security, privacy, etc) and these aren't ever going to be fixed. HTML has finally gotten to version 5, but there's still significant friction regarding advanced features such as media content playback.

There's pain enough to go around.

Steinman is exactly right. Now that Microsoft owns Skype, and they're putting all of the features of WLM into Skype, there's no need for them to run two identical platforms with two names (remember, WLM has video chat and internet calling features built in as well). It's less that Microsoft is getting rid of WLM, and more that they're combining Skype in with the rest of the Windows Live collection of services and releasing a beefier WLM.

Edit: Also, to the point of most people who have MSN live also have a skype account - they're the same thing now, or soon will be. Skype will be brought on board with all of the other things that used to have their own account settings and logins (WLM, Hotmail, Profile, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, etc.), into the "new" Microsoft Account.

bhamv3 said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20222998

Apparently Microsoft is shutting down Windows Live Messenger in March next year, to focus on Skype.

I dislike this change. Most of the people I know use Messenger. They do not use Skype. There is no guarantee they will transfer to Skype. What use is a messenging service if the people I want to talk to don't use it?

Click to expand...

Skype has already been integrated into the Microsoft account system. In fact, when I installed Skype onto windows 8 it asked me if I wanted to merge my Skype account with my Microsoft account. Expect a prompt to move over, or perhaps a silent change over.

figmentPez said:

Windows Live Messenger is how LittleKagsin and I chat. I guess 5-ish months is time to make alternate arrangements, but what a pain.

Click to expand...

Well, at least I know we can still chat in skype. I mean, my cos-sister and I do it all the time, just chat, not skype.

I've never used MSN.

Oh, and also, now that 8 has been released and the true impact of the "Microsoft Account" and its relationship with how Windows 8 works, in regards to Live Tiles, has become public knowledge...

Be very, very careful that you do not forget your password. Also, be wary of changing your password and immediately attempting to log in to Win 8 and all of your Live Tile services. If you get locked out, you can accidentally lock yourself out of your computer, and then have to wait upwards of 24 hours for assistance from Microsoft Account support to get the damn thing unlocked.

Spoiler

Luckily, we managed to get some extra agents online and get rid of the 8 week backlog, which had the potential to keep people locked out of their computers for up to 8 weeks...

...You're scaring me, Gared.

Now I know I'm not upgrading to 8.

What's all this "non interoperable" crap I'm hearing? I've almost completely stopped using chat services, but back then, I used the likes of Trillian all the time, to talk with MSN, IRC, ICQ and Skype...
Yes, on the inside they're all seperate bits being translated and whatever, but the good versions (it varied a LOT) really managed to combine them seamlessly.

I've always used Yahoo messenger, but have been considering a change if I can convince my few friends left on it to move over to something else. For the large part my accumulated friends list over the years has become a ghost town, with some names having never logged on in years. I wish Microsoft didn't own it, but I would be relatively okay with Skype becoming the new thing everybody uses. In the end I guess it's a good thing for somebody to maintain competition against Google and Facebook.

Never used MSN myself, but use Skype for business. Since my office is a Windows place, I'm all for Skype being built into Windows in the way MSN messenger was.

Well, we'll see if this change stays on track now:

Microsoft's head of Windows and Windows Live leaves company, effective immediately.

So... anyone else still using MSN? It still works fine for me.