Microsoft Rumored To Shut Down Windows Live Messenger In Favor Of Skype

Ever since Microsoft announced that they would be acquiring Skype back in May, we've always been wondering if the company's other IM clients would take a back seat. According to multiple sources, that looks to be the case, because it's rumored that Microsoft will be shutting down Windows Live Messenger in order to focus more on Skype.The Verge has learned "through several sources" that Windows Live Messenger will be retired sometime within the next couple of months, and some of the features will be integrated into Skype. It's said that Microsoft will announce the shut down of Windows Live Messenger as early as this week, and will start to merge its users over to Skype.

Microsoft has already been slowly moving its efforts over to Skype when it released version 6.0 for OS X and Windows, where users could begin to login to Skype using their Windows Live Messenger accounts. It was ultimately a move that hinted at the retirement of Microsoft's long-lived IM chat client.

No official word from Microsoft as of yet, but we'll keep our ear to floor if any updates decide to come through. Frankly, we're not to surprised by the rumors and we'd be shocked if they weren't true. Skype is an extremely popular chat client now in the hands of Microsoft, and it certainly makes sense that they would apply more focus to it over their other lesser-known offerings.

[via The Verge]