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YOU MIGHT THINK that archaic chat program MSN Messenger was dead and buried. In 2013, Microsoft announced the service would be retired and gradually integrated into Skype. But the program has remained available in China ever since.
Now, ZDnet reports that MSN Messenger will finally close for good after its Chinese version is also set to shut down.
At its peak, MSN Messenger had 330 million users worldwide. For scale, that’s about three times greater than the current number of Snapchat users and about three quarters of the number of all current Gmail users.
For a time, MSN Messenger was the instant message platform of choice and its death will prompt a quiet wave of tech nostalgia. Before the mobile phone, Messenger was texting. Many a friendship and romance blossomed and died via Messenger’s odd blue/green color scheme.
MSN Messenger remained active in China thanks to a troubled partnership with Chinese media company TOM group.
The partnership had been heavily criticised for developing modified versions of Microsoft software to comply with Chinese internet regulations.
Microsoft’s joint venture in China came to an end last year, after a dispute between Skype and a TOM Group spokesman over the number of new users acquired by Skype in China during its nine-year history in the country.
Now that MSN Messenger will officially close on Oct. 31, Microsoft is offering all Chinese users of the service a $2 Skype coupon to ease the transition.
MSN Messenger and Skype have seen increased competition in China following the rise of rival messaging platform QQ. Gigaom reports that the Tencent-owned company has over 200 million users.
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Rip to both. I think the port road is in Kilkenny, though. Really sad day so far. Best wishes to both families.
Will young men ever realise that they are not invincible? There is no reset button on lfe .
@Patrick MC Dermott: And also will we ever provide a transport infrastructure that can keep octogenarians from needing to drive.
@Thesaltyurchin: I’m referring to the unacceptable number of young men being killed almost daily on good straight stretches of road, where they collide with a tree or overturn into a ditch. Cars don’t normally decide to flip over. Octogenarians are less likely to be killed in the same manner.
@Patrick MC Dermott: The article doesn’t mention the circumstance (which allows us to create our own story based on whatever information we imagine)… No doubt they make up nearly a quarter of the current statistics but if you do the maths based on the latest RSA data you’ll see that while 30 people are 16–25 some 90 people are outside this demographic. The age groups of 45+ account for 45 of deaths for example, but there’s less visual association for us to attach our ‘vision’ too.
Every Saturday night, lads in their teens or 20’s, I wonder why?
@GVR: Because they are noticed. They enjoy the aesthetic, we spend all day in cars it’s become a massive part of our culture, but it’s still learned through experience, even now there are people in my extended family who spend all day in a car and know nothing about it. Don’t know how to put air in the tyre, or even drive properly on the Motorway. We should be learning about it in school.
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