14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft officially starts the Windows Live Messenger retirement today, with English versions of the app to be the first that’ll go dark in the next few hours.
The Redmond-based technology giant announced in early 2013 that it would retire Messenger in order to move all users to Skype, the company’s VoIP platform that’s playing a key role in Microsoft’s long-term strategy.
Even though Windows Live Messenger gets retired today, the Messenger service will continue to live on for a while, so users who wish to continue chatting with their friends can still install a third-party client supporting this protocol.
The WLM shutdown will be completed in late April, so at the end of this month, everybody should be either using Skype or a different instant messaging application, such as Trillian or Pidgin.