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Facebook Gives Up On Desktop Apps: Kills Messenger For Windows and Firefox

Posted by Unknown on from the not-like-anyone-was-using-them dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook today began prompting Facebook Messenger for Windows users as well as Facebook Messenger for Firefox users with a message saying the apps are shutting down next week. Without much of an explanation, the company plans to kill off both on March 3. It appears that Facebook is no longer interested in developing desktop apps. The Android and iOS versions are still alive and well." You can always connect to their IM service using a generic XMPP client like Pidgin (too bad Facebook doesn't federate).

7 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Good! by awweaver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now kill it for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

  2. WhatsApp by raventrue · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems like this might have something to do with the acquisition of WhatsApp. Or possibly the timing is just convenient.

    1. Re:WhatsApp by krkhan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      WhatsApp is working on voice-calls and is aspiring to compete against Skype. Somewhere down the road a desktop client for WhatsApp is definitely in the works. At that time Facebook is most likely going to market WhatsApp pretty aggressively as the end-all-be-all messaging and communication platform.

      So yes, definitely related.

  3. They had desktop apps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Interesting.

  4. Hey by The+Cat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We spent NINETEEN BILLION DOLLARS on a chat program.

    We spent the GDP of Macedonia on a chat program.

    We're Facebook. We're a chat program company, and we spent the price of a brand new aircraft carrier on a chat program with enough left over to buy every man, woman and child in America a pizza with everything.

    Short Facebook.

  5. Do they even have a Messenger strategy? by PortWineBoy · · Score: 2

    Every time I use the Facebook iPhone app to message, it prompts me to use the iOS Messenger app, and then takes me there. Every. Single. Time. Messenger via a desktop browser now relegates you to this tiny little box in the lower right corner of my 27" screen that i can barely see. I have to hit options, see full conversation to get a reasonable messaging view. I would have assumed with the WhatsApp purchase messaging strategy would be a priority...but my experiences combined with the above article makes me seriously wonder what it is...

    --

    this sig deleted by another sig

  6. Re:Bummer by Blaskowicz · · Score: 2

    I would like to have people IM me and me IM them, like in the old days with MSN. I can use IRC, but it's only useful to talk to computer nerds and get help troubleshooting Xorg.
    I remember reading MSN is dead, which is sad as everyone used to be on it. You didn't get to look at each other's contact list, or look up stranger people's contact lists on the web, and you could use 3rd party clients like trillian and amsn.

    Now there's Skype I guess but I don't want to run the official client. 10-12 years ago, the house rule was to run Windows but not run any other Microsoft software. More crucially I don't have a microphone. (and I don't want to deal with it and use the keyboard to push-to-talk and voice chat sitting at the desk).