Tabs tell Windows XP users where to go

Thanks |CEMAN who posted this in our Back page news section. He stumbled on yet another striking evidence that Windows Messenger will be phased out. Windows XP users have been waiting patiently for the Windows Messenger update since November when MSN 8 and MSN Messenger 5 was released to the public for Windows PC's other than (the no longer supported Windows 95 and) Windows XP. Windows XP users were greeted with update notifications only to later realize that MSN Messenger was installed next to Windows Messenger which was in many cases still active and present on the system. Little thought -it seems, had gone into the migration for Windows XP users. Was it to be a Windows Messenger update or not? The web-based newsgroups for Windows Messenger seemed to be split on this decision. Some saying Yes others saying No. No official response has been announced. Only that pop-up reminders and now disappearing tabs seem to be serving as an un-official decision from Redmond.

It has also been mentioned a few times that Microsoft were forced to drop Windows Messenger integration in Windows XP and all future OS (like Longhorn and Blackcomb) but while searching for this in official documents on Presspass.com I couldn't come up with the goods. Only statements that Windows Messenger was NOT forced on users of Windows XP any differently than a AOL INTERNET connection and its AIM service.

So is Windows Messenger going? Are we going to be forced to take on board MSN Messenger that really isn't tied in as Windows Messenger (Remote Assistance is absent on MSN 5 for XP) If anyone can share more on this subject maybe we can try to get an answer once and for all.

I have included quotations and a screen-shot of what tab users of Windows Messenger get now.

View: Civil Action No. 98-1232 (CKK) FINAL JUDGMENT (November 12, 2002)