14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will officially retire Windows Live Messenger on March 15 to move all users to Skype, the company’s very own VoIP platform that also has an integrated Messenger.
Many users, however, do not agree with Microsoft’s decision to retire WLM and call for the company to at least introduce some new features in Skype, including winks and custom emoticons.
A long thread on the Microsoft support forums reveals that these are actually some of the features to be missed the most when WLM is no longer available, so bringing them in Skype could be one of the ways to convince users to make the switch.
“I can live without Windows Live Messenger, but not without my custom emoticons,” one of the users explained. “Microsoft is making a big mistake. Part of the success of MSN was the huge possibilty of customization. Skype, today, is a non attractive video-to-video call program focused to business and migrant families,” another one added.
Another problem with the WLM – Skype merger is that the transition isn’t working as planned and many users have reported bugs that removed their entire contact lists after deploying Skype.
Microsoft already released a new version of Skype to address this issue, but users continue to complain that recovering lost contacts is impossible for the time being. Not with Skype 6.1, at least.
The WLM software will officially retire on March 15, but the Messenger service will live on, so those of you who want to continue using it can always deploy a third-party software solution that comes with support for this particular protocol.
Microsoft is yet to reveal any plans to shut down the Messenger service, as the company initially wants to retire the Windows Live application and only then continue the transition to Skype with other efforts in this regard.