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Microsoft Retiring Messenger, Replacing It With Skype

Posted by Soulskill on from the we'll-choose-for-you dept.

Entropy98 writes "Windows Live Messenger will be shut down by March 2013, after nearly 13 years of service, so Microsoft can focus its efforts on Skype, its recent $8.5bn acquisition. No word on whether users will be able to transfer their WLM accounts to Skype. 'According to internet analysis firm Comscore, WLM still had more than double the number of Skype's instant messenger facility at the start of this year and was second only in popularity to Yahoo Messenger. But the report suggested WLM's US audience had fallen to 8.3 million unique users, representing a 48% drop year-on-year. By contrast, the number of people using Skype to instant message each other grew over the period.'"

54 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. ICQ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    FTW

    1. Re:ICQ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      talk me@somesever.edu

      FTW :)

    2. Re:ICQ by petermgreen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is afaict there are no open implementations of the skype protocol. There is an API but iirc you have to keep the skype client running to use it and platform support is somewhat limited. Here in the UK msn messenger (or whatever MS is calling it this month) seems to be the dominant IM network. If those users migrate to skype it will be a PITA.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    3. Re:ICQ by asdf7890 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here in the UK msn messenger (or whatever MS is calling it this month) seems to be the dominant IM network

      I'm only one data-point, but a lot of people I know directly or indirectly seem to have switched away from MS's IM. It usually starts with using Facebook's IM for contacts that are on there then slowly logging into MSN/Live/what-ever less and less often until they don't bother at all (and reverting to mobile phone text messages for communicating with people who are not on facebook).

    4. Re:ICQ by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Has anybody actually USED both IMs here? How do they compare? because my dad and all his old buddies are on Windows messenger and if its a giant change man is my life gonna SUCK because guess who has to deal with it.

      Why of why is Ballmer trying so hard to torpedo the company? Is he shorting the stock? Because he seems to be doing his damnedest to shit all over every popular property they have. If they wanted to add Skype support I can see that, even though I thought they were gonna push Skype for their business customers and maybe integrate it with the X720 or whatever its gonna be called, but why destroy something that is actually popular like Windows messenger?

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    5. Re:ICQ by ctrl-alt-canc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Meet people in front of [beer | coffee | BBQ]

      FTW :)

    6. Re:ICQ by omglolbah · · Score: 2

      Not sure if joking or serious, as I actually do that .

    7. Re:ICQ by bluescrn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      MSN is completely ad-free if you use a 3rd-party client such as Pidgin. This is probably why they're shutting it down. With Skype, they control the client, there are no 3rd-party alternatives.

  2. AOL wins! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    AOL IM finally won! Good job AOL!

    1. Re:AOL wins! by aliquis · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It (well, ICQ but same shit) was the first one over here. But then for whatever reason people switched to MSN.

      Personally I belong in the camp who used IRC and never saw why I needed ICQ to begin with.

  3. Windows Live Messenger Integration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Umm... Skype 6.0 already began integrating WLM and Skype accounts. See http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/24/3547644/skype-6-0-mac-windows-release

    1. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by mrbluze · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Umm... Skype 6.0 already began integrating WLM and Skype accounts.

      It's a shame Skype got bought out. It's already getting bloaty and beginning to suck in various ways.

      --
      Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
    2. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      bloaty: Noun. A weasel word for things I don't like.

    3. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by preaction · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It started getting bloated long before Microsoft acquired them. Anything that doesn't have to do with making calls or chatting is bloat. Integrated social networking? Advertisements to "spark conversations"?

    4. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by PReDiToR · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Get an old version then.

      Skype has been too integrated and full of crap and ads for a while now.

      --

      Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
    5. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by humanrev · · Score: 3, Informative

      Turn the ads off then. There's an option in the Skype settings to do so (think it's around Notifications somewhere). Old versions just expose you to security vulnerability that are fixed in newer versions, not to mention older protocols and lower quality codecs.

      --
      Most people on Slashdot are fucking idiots.
    6. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

      It's a shame Skype got bought out. It's already getting bloaty and beginning to suck in various ways.

      Skype is the new Hotmail. Skypers are migrating to Google Talk in droves.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    7. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by Hal_Porter · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Skype used to run fine on my netbook. It insists on updating itself - there's no way to stay on old versions. It got more and more sluggish with time - it took longer to launch and the video call quality decreased.

      Now when I run it it pops up a message saying "Your computer speed is very slow"

      http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows/Your-computer-speed-is-very-slow/td-p/385505

      Skype used to work fine on machines that were a lot more underpowered than a netbook even on connections that were a lot slower than my current 50Mbit down 8Mbit up DSL.

      If you can't get crappy video in CIF-like resolution to work over an 8Mbit uplink given a dual core Atom with SSE at 1.6Ghz, I'd say the word bloated is about right. Especially if, as I suspect in the Skype case, the problem is not that you don't have the CPU horsepower to compress the video but that the app wraps up efficient video codec into a large application such that the video codec bit gets starved out. Of course if you have a fast CPU you probably don't have this problem. Still older versions of Skype actually worked a lot better on the same hardware, and even older versions used to run perfectly with a slower CPU and a slower connection. And it's not like it's impossible to decouple the video codec from the rest of the application and run it at a higher priority.

      Skype for whatever reason just decided to put up a passive aggressive warning was easier than making their software work on netbooks when they found the issue during testing (why else was the warning code put in?). Even though realistically a lot more people are going to run Skype on a netbook than on a developer class laptop.

      It's actually typical of modern Microsoft that they've bought something like Skype long after it has passed its prime. Skype a decade ago worked very well indeed. Modern Skype seems to be getting worse and worse. Still I'm sure the WinRT rewrite will solve all these issues, because one thing modern Microsoft APIs are known for is reducing bloat and making code run well on low end hardware.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    8. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by Zeussy · · Score: 2

      So going to oldapps.com, getting a nice older version of skype. And going Tools -> Advanced -> Automatic Updates (or similar depending on version) and disabling it doesn't work for you like it does for me?

      --
      Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game
    9. Re:Windows Live Messenger Integration by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      And if I go back to 4.2.0.187 Secunia PSI flags it as vulnerable - e.g.

      http://secunia.com/advisories/47856/

      It's not clear if this vulnerability only affects 5.x or if the 4.x code is vulnerable too. Plus it still complains about the machine being slow.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  4. Gtalk/Facebook by RobbieCrash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hasn't everyone stopped using AIM/MSN and moved on to Gtalk/Facebook Messenger?

    --
    Keep on knockin'
    https://robbiecrash.me
    1. Re:Gtalk/Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No. Not everyone is 12.

    2. Re:Gtalk/Facebook by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

      I still can't bring myself to kill my ICQ account. Some people collect stamps. Others collect figurines. I collect dead social networks.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    3. Re:Gtalk/Facebook by oodaloop · · Score: 5, Funny

      I collect dead social networks.

      That answers my question why you're on slashdot.

      /ducks

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    4. Re:Gtalk/Facebook by Hatta · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure why I'd want to audio or video chat. Text chat is simply better.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    5. Re:Gtalk/Facebook by petermgreen · · Score: 2

      IRC is fine as a chatroom protocol. It's not so hot as an IM protocol. Nicks are poor as a way of idenfitying users due to the fact that many users change them to indicate status and in many cases nick ownership is not enforced but nicks are the only identifier you can use to query if a user is online. Further there is no command to take a list of users and give you all their statuses at once and combined with the relatively dumb rate limiting system* this makes updating a buddy list slow even if the nicks are stable. Finally as someone else mentioned it isn't federated so you have to maintain seperate connections to every IRC network you have friends on.

      XMPP (formerly jabber) on the other hand does things right for an IM protocol. Anyone can run a server and users on different servers can talk to each other with users identified by user@host like with email. Sadly unlike email which had developed in the days when the internet was built on openness and interoperability jabber came along while everyone else was trying to lock users into their proprietary IM systems and didn't really gain much traction.

      * Rate limiting makes sense but limiting queries that can be served locally to the same rate used to limit state changes that traverse the whole network doesn't.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    6. Re:Gtalk/Facebook by PhillyMeeks · · Score: 2

      Aren't we all basically 12? C'mon, be honest...

      --
      "Women. Can't live with 'em. Pass the beer nuts." -Norm
    7. Re:Gtalk/Facebook by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

      What's wrong with IRC?

      Young whipper-snapper. In my day we used "talk" from the command line! We didn't need any fancy IRC doo-dads or color tags. We didn't pull any of that slap with a trout nonsense either! It was a simpler time, and we liked it!

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  5. Facebook Chat killed it by dnaumov · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There, I said it. Nobody I know uses Messenger anymore, but practically everyone is using Facebook Messenger. Some have basically replaced both IM and email with it.

    1. Re:Facebook Chat killed it by iONiUM · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Uh.. I guess I'm nobody then. And so is my list of about 15 people I chat everyday on it with.

      I like Windows Live Messenger.. it's simply, it doesn't suck like Skype, and it doesn't require Facebook. I use gTalk sometimes too, but that seems to be an Android user thing; people with iPhones rarely use gTalk, even when logged into GMail. As it is, this really pisses me off, because I really like Windows Live Messenger. It's going to be a real mess for me to find one way to talk to all these people after it goes away..

  6. "Maybe" on accounts, but "yes" on contacts by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    >> No word on whether users will be able to transfer their WLM accounts to Skype.

    From TFA: "To ease the changeover, Microsoft is offering a tool to migrate WLM messenger contacts over."

    1. Re:"Maybe" on accounts, but "yes" on contacts by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative

      "Yes" on accounts as well, as anyone who installed Skype v6 (or the earlier betas) can attest - the very first thing it does is suggest that you input your WLM / MS account info so that it can link the two. If you do, it doesn't just migrates contacts - from there on it effectively operates as WLM client, letting you chat with those people who still use WLM (or any third-party client using the same protocol), and letting them send messages to your WLM address which you then see as Skype chats. Furthermore, it lets you log in using your MS account rather than Skype username. And if you don't have a Skype account at all, you can just log in with MS account, and then that becomes your Skype username.

      So the more accurate description is that services are transparently merged, and WLM client is retired in favor of Skype client.

  7. That's a surprise by Dave+Emami · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Given the accumulation of annoyances in Skype since MS acquired it (the whole ads thing, for instance) I expected they'd bought it to kill it.

    --

    "The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
    1. Re:That's a surprise by XcepticZP · · Score: 2

      Skype started getting bloaty way before Microsoft bought it. Don't fall for that anti-MS propaganda.

  8. Sounds by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 4, Funny

    As long as they uncorporate sounds like a high-pitched cartoony UH-OH! and THWAP! into the new UI, I'm fine with it.

  9. Re:Smells like a bundled update... by Russ1642 · · Score: 2

    How about a big UNINSTALL button.

  10. Re:Smells like a bundled update... by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    If that happens, you could just do what most people on ChatRoulette do....

    Show 'em the DONG!

  11. Way to go MS by MaXimillion · · Score: 3

    They have the best IM client on the market (well, the newest versions suck for their UI, but the older ones are great), and they go and kill them off in favour of a software that serves a completely different purpose. I could understand ceasing development and reducing support, but surely it's making them more money through ads than it costs to run the network?

    1. Re:Way to go MS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And most people I know who use WLM use it for all sorts of things like play games together, share control of certain programs, do remote assistance with their parents, work on documents together because you can tie it with office. Plus, it has an enterprise version that connects with the entire office suite (most importantly outlook) and works with exchange and AD for some truly awesome features.

  12. Defining "bloaty" by tepples · · Score: 2

    Is "performing noticeably worse on old, low-cost, small-form-factor, or battery-powered hardware than the previous version" precise enough?

    1. Re:Defining "bloaty" by frosty_tsm · · Score: 2

      Is "performing noticeably worse on old, low-cost, small-form-factor, or battery-powered hardware than the previous version" precise enough?

      Or... has lots of features that add to the application size or load that aren't valued by 99% of the user base.

  13. Skype on 360 by Babbster · · Score: 2

    I wouldn't be surprised if a key reason Windows Messenger hasn't been killed already is that Microsoft is waiting until their Xbox 360 Skype client is ready to go. I use my 360 for all my gaming and TV viewing, so it would be pretty convenient to be able to get my phone calls through the system as well, especially if the client was capable of multitasking which, unfortunately, some key Microsoft 360 apps (perhaps most notably Xbox Music Pass, formerly Zune Pass) are not.

    1. Re:Skype on 360 by CasaDelGato · · Score: 2

      They seem to be also doing their best to make Skype unusable on Macs. Probably hoping that people will want Skype more than they want to use a Mac.

  14. Re:No thanks. by icebike · · Score: 3, Informative

    If I'm going to go with one big evil super corporation with ties to government agencies and concerns about privacy and yadda yadda, I might as well use the one I've used for years that is between free and super cheap and way less bloated -- Google Voice.

    Google Voice is a internet based Answering Machine. It does not support Video.

    Google Talk is a slightly proprietary Jabber (XMPP) client that includes Voice and Video streams on some devices.

    Neither is exactly like Skype.

    --
    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  15. Impact on Microsoft Lync? by Pvt_Waldo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder what the impact is on Lync? I would guess it's based on Messenger to some extent.

  16. What about Remote Assistance? by Guppy06 · · Score: 2

    That's pretty much the only reason I still have Messenger installed any more.

  17. Re:Microsoft's recent shocking displas of sense. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apparent abandonment of .net - Not a supported framework for metro, winphone, winRT.

    .NET is a supported framework for Win8/WinRT, as well as all incarnations of Windows Phone (in fact, for WP, you have to use it for UI layer).

    Silverlight is not gone, really, it just got rewritten in native code and rebranded "XAML" (for Windows Store apps).

  18. Steam by DudemanX · · Score: 2

    I haven't needed an IM client for years since Steam hit critical mass among my friends. If and other friends, family, or work people need to message me they can txt or email.

    MSN/Windows/Live Messenger has been a pain in the ass ever since Windows XP would end up loading each of those as separate clients to do the same thing.

  19. Re:Smells like a bundled update... by mjwx · · Score: 4, Funny

    If that happens, you could just do what most people on ChatRoulette do....

    Show 'em the DONG!

    Might I suggest you use a more widely accepted currency like the US dollar, Euro or British Pound. You'll never get a good exchange rate on Dong outside Vietnam.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  20. The tanks are built, troops have amassed by oztiks · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Skype, Surface, Xbox, now a phone, Windows 8, maps, office, voice recognition, skydive, etc etc.

    They hold many cards old Microsoft, now that they've starting to tie all these components into a single working organism, along side the sinking share price of Apple. The battlegrounds have been set and this is the first move of Microsoft's new borgification.

    What is going to happen is this, we're going to start seeing consolidated product offerings of this calibre which will be focused in reshaping the lounge room, the office, the kids bedroom, the parents bedroom, they've only really left out the kitchen (maybe we'll see Sink OS at some point).

    Please tell me amongst the FOSS lovers and Apple punces that dwell on this board that there's someone else out there can see what this minor but well placed move has done? Again, I'm not here to endorse any of this (as people keep thinking i do) I'm just using my own vision and personal experience to draw this conclusion.

    MS has made poor moves in the past few years, yet for every poor move one could say it was a strategy to end up at this turning point.

    They did this at the perfect time, they've allowed the Skype customer base to become comfortable with their new overlords and now the turn the dark side has become complete!

    As for Facebook and it ties with Skype, I'd be very worried about what data gets shared between the two, in fact who in their right mind would of allowed such a partnership to take place ... wait wait ... yes Facebook's run by Mark Z ... I bet he didn't see this coming, so what now? slap a photo gallery app on the side of Skype and you have a better version of Facebook? Hows that 15 or so year "shelf life" on Facebook's platform looking now investors ? :)

    1. Re:The tanks are built, troops have amassed by Richy_T · · Score: 2

      I'm sure it will also be released on Windows 2095

  21. Re:Pidgin has no Skype support. by BigBrownChunx · · Score: 2

    Not completely true. The Skype plugn for Pidgin allows you to chat through the Pidgin interface through the Skype API which admittedly, needs Skype running (or you can use the imo2sproxy service that forwards Skype API messages over imo.im to connect to Skype)

  22. Oh boy by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Insightful

    http://www.slate.com/articles/technol/technology/2012/11/microsoft_surface_why_is_the_new_tablet_so_much_worse_than_the_ipad.html

    Indeed they have, the axis of evil is on the march. Pity it is the Italians, feared by none, their tech out of date before the first shot is fired.

    I haven't used skype in ages, Xbox is the only gaming platform I don't own, W8 phones need to be insanely subsidized and when you google for "sales record W8 phone" you get pictures of thumble weeds.

    Windows 8 is universally despised and it just a copy cat of Unity and Gnome in an attempt to alienate users.

    Maps? MS has maps? Gosh... that should tell you something about it, honestly didn't know they had.

    Office... they had that for over a decade, for matter they also have had phones etc etc for that long.

    You are saying that MS has all the tools to lock people in. Yes. That is what everyone else thought... and then iOS and Android happened and showed that the lockin wasn't as tight as everyone thought. Rim got big because they locked you into exchange and surely that was essential. Where is Rim now? Where is the exchange lockin? GONE! Suddenly every boss has a macbook and insists the office systems work with it and screw MS attempts to create a windows only network.

    I have no doubt that MS would love to see the parents posts brainfart happen for real but they had two decades to get it done, why should they succeed now when for the first time there is some serious competition and the computing landscape has changed forever?

    No doubt oztiks grandparent was in that bunker, grasping his headless dead leader screaming "come on, we got the enemy right were we want them, we can win it!"

    The battle has been lost, all MS can do right now is try to not loose the office desktop too.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  23. old Windows Messenger by u64 · · Score: 2

    The original, simply called 'Windows Messanger' that comes default on XP Pro no-ads, and slim on memory.

    Old Skype v4 Pro still works i hope...
    http://www.oldversion.com/Skype-for-Business.html
    What's the oldest working Skype version?

    Does anyone knows any more ok IMs...?
    o Portable
    o Low-resources 1-2M RAM
    o Encrypted by default