Microsoft have announced that their veteran web-based messenger client will become unavailable from this Tuesday, June 30. The service has offered access to their popular instant messaging network through a web browser for the past five years.Since earlier this year a newer replacement service for MSN Web Messenger has been available as part of Windows Live Hotmail, featuring direct integration with the email interface and your contact list (known as Windows Live People). This will now become the only officially supported web-based client for accessing the Windows Live Messenger network, apart from the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit which allows developers to integrate messaging controls into their own websites.
The new web messenger service is available directly from your Hotmail inbox and acts as another location for Messenger's multiple points of presence (MPOP) feature, meaning that you can sign into the web service whilst still signed into the Windows Live Messenger client on one or more computers. Once signed in, it allows you to easily see which of your contacts are online and if the sender of an email is in your contact list then you can even see if they are available to chat when reading their message. If your Live ID doesn't use Hotmail for its email (as it is hosted on another domain) then you can still access the web messenger in a similar way through Windows Live People.
MSN Web Messenger is one of the last remaining MSN branded web applications still available, with other online services such as Hotmail and software such as Messenger itself having moved having moved to the Windows Live brand several years ago, so it's good to see this outdated service finally being retired. As Ars points out, Microsoft Money, Microsoft Encarta and Windows Live OneCare are also all set to be discontinued from June 30.
The time you spent writing this comment could've been spend creating an acc
Yeah but it's not the same and some people have privacy settings set so that you can't send messages that way
Why would I create a hotmail account when all my contacts are on my Live account?
my end of my e-mail is .live and it works
my end of my e-mail is .live and it works
Oh sorry I meant @neowin.net which is a Live account but not a @live.com account if you know what I mean
I am always dubious about 3rd party messengers and whether they are secure and how they use your details and passwords.
Why don't you NOT use messenger at work? We're doing away with MSN Messenger (standalone) at my office and replacing it with an internal IM solution. If you're not allowed to install MSN Messenger, than you probably shouldn't be using it. If you get caught using a web version, it's probably not going to float over too well.
oh please, who died and made you the judge?
Your concern is a fair one. You use the service, in the way it was intended, and Microsoft is changing it in such a way that you can't use it anymore. However, your application seems a little narrow, to be honest, and perhaps not entirely legitimate.
How long should Microsoft continue to support your requirement? Particularly since this app has been deprecated for years now in favor of other services?
How many Bob users were PO'd when MS stopped supporting THAT?
He would be right on this one. For one it may be breaking internet use rules and the second is the use of work computers (most don't allow you to use work machines for personal purposes).
That aside I don't see the point of removing the standalone web based one simply because what if you are on a, let's say, library computer where (once again) you can't install applications.
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/amsn_portable
No install, just unpack and use. I had to switch to this at my work recently since the Hotmail feature never stays signed in.
Im not sure but can you sign in to Hotmail without it being a hotmail/live account but it being a .NET account?
(I think you understand me)
(I think you understand me)
You can create an account for the LiveID service to access sites like Connect and use the messenger with any e-mail address. You have to have a Hotmail address to use the mail service.
That is not a solution. He wants a first party solution to a support first party enviroment (having a nonMicrosoft email assoicated with a .NET account).
You move along.
there's no problem. even if you don't have a hotmail account you can log in with your live passport in the hotmail site and use the messenger via web.
try it =)
LMAO!!!!
Well, there's still Meebo
Long live Meebo.
ROFLMAO...
I've got a LiveID with my private email address, so I can't use Hotmail. In other words, I can't use the web messenger anymore at all. Well done...
i use it with my live id that is an gmail mail address.
And I personally think that the way the IM works with Hotmail is rather awkward, unintuitive, and time consuming. So just use Meebo, an MSN capable mobile phone (careful may be $), or stay with IE/Firefox.
Quiet down, I'm trying to think.
I really don't trust logging in through a third-party like Meebo. Who knows, they could be capturing your username and password.
until you RTFA!
until you RTFA!
He'll find out eventually... the hard way.
Ah well... My work relaxed their rules several months ago, so I use the proper client now anyway. :p
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