14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo! has announced today that it will shut down the infrastructure behind the legacy Yahoo! Messenger desktop client, after it stopped providing it as a downloadable option in April.
The company says that, starting August 5, 2016, users of the Yahoo! Messenger desktop clients won't be able to log into their accounts anymore.
Yahoo! launched a Web-based version of the service in December 2015, along with powerful Android and iOS companion apps.
Only desktop clients are discontinued, the Web & mobile versions will go on
On March 27, 2016, the company announced that the only supported platforms would be the latter three. Yahoo! stopped offering the desktop app as a download package via its website two weeks later, on April 12, 2016.
Yahoo! Messenger launched in March 1998, and for many years, it was only available via a desktop application, for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Solaris.
In the early 2000s, Yahoo! Messenger became extremely popular, battling for the top IM client spot with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger and Skype.
The service's popularity died down as newer services appeared, such as Facebook's chat (now Facebook Messenger), Twitter's DM feature, and the slew of mobile IM apps that ate at its market share. Yahoo! failed to adapt in time, and Yahoo! Messenger lost most of its huge following.
Too little, too late
Now, in a desperate attempt, Yahoo! is trying to launch a Web-based service, along with two mobile apps, to regain its place in the IM market.
The company claims that its new "revamped" Messenger service is faster and supports sending text messages, photos, and animated GIFs. Yahoo! also says the new Messenger platform lets users delete past messages via an unsend feature, and also supports group conversations.
The old Yahoo! Messenger desktop clients are now considered "Legacy Messenger" and are not part of Yahoo!'s current vision for the company, which includes only seven core services: Mail, Search, Tumblr, News, Sports, Finance and Lifestyles.
In February, strong rumors appeared about Yahoo! being up for sale. About the same time, the plan about the "seven core services" also appeared, and Yahoo! started axing older services left and right, like its former Yahoo! Games platform, also very popular in the past.
With today's announcement, Yahoo! has also said it will shut down the Yahoo! Recommends service on September 1, 2016. Below are some photos of the soon-to-be deprecated Yahoo! Messenger client, if you need a trip down memory lane.
