The last trace of Microsoft’s once-dominant Messenger network will disappear at the end of October, reports TechNode. After October 31st, Chinese users chatting on the instant messaging network will have to use Skype, not the Live Messenger client, for their communication. In late 2012, Microsoft announced that it would discard the Messenger brand for its instant messaging client in favor of the Skype client and brand. The company started blocking the official client early in 2013.
Many Chinese users of Windows Live Messenger, more commonly referred to as MSN in short in China, have received an email which says the service will close down on October 31st (two months away) in mainland China. To encourage Chinese users to migrate to Skype, the online calling service Microsoft acquired in 2011, each of them will get 2 dollar worth of a coupon for Skype calls. The mainland China was the exception when Microsoft decided to shut down the Messenger in March 2013, for the service was operated locally. I won’t receive the email as the hotmail account I used for the Messenger login has been long abandoned. But many years ago, the Windows Live Messenger was way more popular among my friends than Tencent’s QQ or other online instant messaging services by Chinese Internet companies such as Netease and Sina.