Microsoft set to retire Windows Live Messenger

Will Microsoft retire Windows Live Messenger client in favor of Skype?

Yes, according to The Verge which reports that Microsoft is working towards retiring its Windows Live Messenger client in favor of Skype. Quoting sources the website reports that the Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger service will be retired in the coming months and integrated into Skype.

The Verge report further points out that the company will announce the retirement of Windows Live Messenger soon, possibly as early as this week and Microsoft has slowly been moving people over to the Messenger back-end for Skype over the past few months.

Skype, acquired by Microsoft in May 2011, has been synonymous with voice/ video calling since launch but, of course, has text-based chatting (IM) support built-in as well. The latest version of Skype (version 6) paved the way for Windows Live Messenger integration by letting users login with their Microsoft credentials, aside from adding Facebook integration as well.

Skype version 6 signals Microsoft's desire to closely integrate Skype into its own ecosystem and moving Windows Live Messenger users to the feature-rich Skype would be the next logical step.