Microsoft has been planning to remove MSN Groups and re brand them with Windows Live since the introduction of Windows Live. Now it seems Windows Live Groups will launch on November 17th, replacing MSN Groups, set to close on February 21, 2009.
In an email from a Microsoft Technical Support spokesperson, it is advised that Microsoft will be launching a service named multiply to migrate MSN Groups to Multiply so that they can be preserved after MSN Groups is closed in February.
Jonathan Yaniv, a Microsoft Windows Live Enthusiast, has been doing some digging around the Microsoft Windows Live internal sites. Yaniv has found that you can now apply new themes to groups, stop people from using your Group in Windows Live Messenger to chat and Microsoft has implemented a mailing list feature for group emails and an option to ban known spammers.
Below is an example of the new Windows Live Groups set to launch next month (courtesy of Jonathan Yaniv).