Microsoft is dropping its instant-messaging program and forcing most of its 100m users to switch to Skype. Experts had speculated that Windows Live Messenger made less sense after Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion last year. ‘Skype and Messenger are coming together,’ Skype said in a post at its website. ‘By updating to Skype, Messenger [...]

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Sunday Times 2

Microsoft dumps its chat service for Skype

By Mark Prigg
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Microsoft is dropping its instant-messaging program and forcing most of its 100m users to switch to Skype. Experts had speculated that Windows Live Messenger made less sense after Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion last year.

‘Skype and Messenger are coming together,’ Skype said in a post at its website. ‘By updating to Skype, Messenger users can instant message and video call their Messenger friends.’ A new version of Skype released a few weeks ago allows users to sign in with a Microsoft account. By merging the two services, people won’t have to maintain two separate contact lists. Microsoft says much has changed in how people communicate.

There’s more use of text messaging and social networking. Except for mainland China, Messenger will be discontinued worldwide after the first quarter of 2013. Microsoft last year bought Skype for $8.5 billion in a move seen as aimed at boosting its presence in an online arena dominated by Google and Facebook. © Daily Mail, London




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