The story is much the same through the Live Messenger Beta, which now offers high-definition video chat.
The Windows Live Messenger instant messaging program was known as MSN Messenger when it first launched in 1999.
Microsoft is currently in the process of migrating users from its Windows Live Messenger product to the service.
Microsoft said Windows Live Messenger (WLM) would be turned off by March 2013 worldwide, with the exception of China.
In November 2012, Microsoft announced that it was switching off Live Messenger in early 2013 but gave no firm date.
Recently, it made changes to the Services Agreement governing Hotmail, SkyDrive, Bing, Windows Live Messenger and other online services.
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Microsoft is switching off its Windows Live Messenger service on 15 March.
On Monday, a poll of more than 2, 000 young people by charity Beatbullying found that 57% had been harassed online using Windows Live Messenger.
Some young Chinese have registered Live Messenger for the first time as an alternative to logging on to QQ and finding themselves without anyone to talk to.
As announced last November, Microsoft has been planning to discontinue Windows Live Messenger in 2013, moving all users over to Skype sometime in Q1 of this year.
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Unlike Windows Live Messenger, Skype is a freemium model (and not ad-based), which in addition to simply consolidating the services is likely part of this strategy for Microsoft.
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No, the final winner may well be Microsoft, whose Live Messenger already has a solid reputation in China as a must-have app for business, overreliance on creaky submarine cables notwithstanding.
To be sure, FarmVille is still easily the top app in terms of daily active users, at more than 16 million compared to the second-highest app Windows Live Messenger at nearly 10 million.
Focusing on integrating Windows Live Messenger into Skype and simultaneously providing a better user experience for chat could be a smart move for Microsoft, especially as Skype is so heavily integrated into Windows 8.
In this Preview, you'll get all of the Skype basics in the new, modern design along with many of the new features such as integration with the People Hub and a combined contact list with buddies from Windows Live Messenger.
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And Video Kinect makes video chat from the living room an easier and more accessible experience to users who are less tech-savvy, albeit one that can only connect you to other Kinect users of Windows Live Messenger users right now.
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Windows Phone users will be able to view photos and social networking updates for just that group, if they want, and talk to each other as a group through email and instant message services such as Windows Live Messenger and Facebook Chat.
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Today, the acquisition now makes a little more sense, as the Verge is reporting that Microsoft is poised to announce (possibly as soon as this week) that it will be killing off Windows Live Messenger to replace it with the Skype platform.
At same time want to connect Skype with Outlook, with Lync, Xbox Live and other like Messenger and Hotmail.
He announced the new Windows Live Essentials, a set of repackaged online applications, including Messenger, Mail and Photo Gallery.
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