windows live messenger

After months of leaked bits, Microsoft's Skype division is finally opening the informational tap.

We've already seen and now used the new Windows 8 Skype client. We've heard there's a Windows Phone 8 Skype client coming -- though it's still not in the Windows Phone Store and Skype reps are not sharing more on when it will be.

On November 6, the Skype team provided more information about its recently stated plans to ultimately replace Windows Live Messenger with Skype. The planned cutover date is quite aggressive: It's Q1 2013, according to a new … Read more

In a move that would have been shocking a decade ago, Microsoft has made it possible for others' instant-messaging software to tap into its Windows Live Messenger.

Instant-messaging networks--the big ones are run by Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL--once were well-defended strongholds, and developers of third-party programs like Trillian had to work hard to reverse-engineer their inner workings. But whatever residual excitement IM possessed has faded as new communication methods such as Facebook and Twitter have seized the spotlight.

I'm inclined to blame the companies involved. Had they banded together on a standard, IM could have become a staple of … Read more

Windows Live Messenger is seeing its integration with Facebook chat grow rapidly.

Microsoft announced yesterday in a blog post that close to 18 million people have "connected" Facebook chat to Messenger since August, when it became possible to do so. And those folks have now accumulated more than 2.8 billion minutes of Facebook chat. All told, there have been 440 million chat sessions between Messenger and Facebook in less than six months, Microsoft said.

Microsoft, which owns a small slice of Facebook, became the first instant-messaging provider to allow its users to chat with friends on Facebook … Read more

Yesterday the Windows Live team at Microsoft announced the release of Messenger for the Zune HD.

I'm not much of a Messenger user, but one of the big things Microsoft added to the new version of the desktop app is Facebook integration, and that same functionality is built into the Zune version of Messenger. After connecting your Facebook and Windows Live accounts, you can see all Facebook updates and conduct Facebook chats from within the Messenger app. (There's already a standalone Facebook app for the Zune HD; this new app is best suited for users who straddle the … Read more

Microsoft has beefed up its Windows Live Messenger iPhone app with a few new features.

Launched on Monday, Live Messenger 1.1 now lets you incorporate your Facebook account directly into Messenger. You can view updates from and chat with your Facebook friends and update your own profile. Through your Windows Live Service account page, Microsoft gives you some control over the Facebook integration, so you can limit who sees what.

Also new to Live Messenger is a filter for your friends list. You can choose to view all your friends, only those in certain groups, or only those currently … Read more

As of Tuesday, Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger users will now be able to send instant messages to Facebook friends who are logged into the social-networking service.

Microsoft is the first of the major instant-messaging services to connect directly to Facebook Chat. It's part of an effort by the folks in Redmond to evolve Messenger from purely an instant-messaging program to a social hub with activity feeds, video chat, and other connection options.

The addition of the Facebook Chat connection comes as part of an update to the test versions of the next generation of Windows Live programs. Not … Read more

It's taken Microsoft a long time to produce an IM app for the iPhone. Now it has, hours before Apple released the fourth version of its iPhone operating system, we might add.

Windows Live Messenger for iPhone has many of the features we'd expect to see in an IM app, plus other social networking and e-mail extras. One screen is devoted to Windows Live, for example, offering space to update your status, follow friends in your network, and change your profile picture. A small button also take you into your e-mail in-box.

In the chewy center of the … Read more

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is giving a sneak peek at the next version of Microsoft's instant messaging program.

The new Windows Live Messenger will add a number of features, including tabbed conversations, the ability to do video chats in HD quality, share Web sites, search results and other content types, as well as pulling in updates from other social networks.

"The new Messenger will provide a great way to have more meaningful conversations with the people you care about most while also bringing together your social networks and sharing updates, cutting through the clutter, and staying up to … Read more