Windows Live Messenger becomes Skype in April

From April 8 to 30, Windows Live Messenger will be gradually disabled and its users moved over to Skype, Skype has announced.

Messenger users will receive an update that transforms their chat programme into the latest version of Skype.

Old passwords and usernames will remain valid and Messenger users will find all their old contacts in Skype.

Users with accounts in both services will have their accounts merged. Those who don’t want to wait till the update can download the latest version of Skype now.

Microsoft, which bought Skype in 2011, has said Windows Live Messenger will be retired everywhere except mainland China

-- The Nation 2013-02-27

Yes, I've been getting these emails for a while:

Hello,

Starting April 8th, we will begin upgrading customers from Messenger to Skype. The process will take a few weeks to complete. April 8th is the first day you may be required to upgrade. This is a bit later than the March 15th date we previously mentioned to some of you as we wanted to give you more time to make the transition.

To keep chatting with your Messenger contacts, simply upgrade to the latest version of Skype using the instructions below and sign in using a Microsoft account (this is the same ID you use to sign into Messenger). Once signed in, your contacts will already be there. You'll be able to instant message and make video calls with them just like before, and start discovering new ways of staying in touch, including Skype on your mobile or tablet.

Upgrade now

I got the messages and rather than wait i downloaded the latest version. However it downloaded in thai

and i cant use it....pete

I got the messages and rather than wait i downloaded the latest version. However it downloaded in thai

and i cant use it....pete:coffee1:

Try this link

http://download.skype.com/ce0b222b5e04303dba1df2805ab1d5ed/SkypeSetupFull.exe

or this one

http://skype.com/go/getskype-full

This isn't "News", more like "olds" - this has been known about for months.

The only new part is it's delayed until April.

Personally, I uninstalled MSN Messenger yesterday as all my family that I used Messenger to chat to back in the day are already on Skype. (Skype tends to work better from countries with poor infrastructure, like Angola (where my brother works), and Thailand.)

Note: An example of Thailand's backwardness - my brother uses 3G in Angola for his data connection only because the 4G (LTE) connections there are rather expensive ($180/month). It would be nice to have the choice here, but as we all know, Thailand is behind the world, including sub-saharan Africa in mobile phone technology.