MSN Messenger. I imagine
that most of you watching this video have used it at some
point in your life, or have at least heard of it. What used
to be one of the most popular instant messaging clients out there
is now just a memory from years ago. In its hayday
MSN Messenger connected millions of people around the world
and by 2009 had over 330,000,000
users. So what exactly happened to MSN
Messenger? In today's video I wanted to take a look
back at the once very popular IM
client and discuss how it changed over the years
up until its discontinuation in 2014.
MSN Messenger started its life in the summer of
1999 as a free download on Microsoft's website
called the MSN Messenger Service. This first
version of the program, which ran under Windows 98,
provided basic chat functionality that you would expect
from an IM client. At the time, AOL Instant Messenger
was the chat program of choice by computer users
but Microsoft hoped
to gain some of AOL's market share with MSN Messenger.
To do this, Microsoft actually made the
first few versions of MSN Messenger to be fully
compatible with AOL Instant Messenger, a feature that was not
liked by America Online, so much so that AOL
attempted to block MSN Messenger from communicating with AIM,
until Microsoft finally just gave up and
instead focused on integrating
MSN Messenger with Windows. This could first be seen in
Windows ME. While going through the setup process, the user
had the option to install the MSN Messenger service. By
version 4.6, MSN Messenger was
bundled with Windows XP, under a new name -
Windows Messenger. This special ad-free version of
MSN Messenger was created only for Windows XP users,
while users of older Windows versions could download MSN
Messenger 4.6 online. This new version brought
the first of many user interface redesigns.
They also included a couple of new features. You could
now start voice calls with other users and send files to them from within
the program. In 2002, Microsoft updated
MSN Messenger to version 5.0, which
brought some more interface changes and the introduction of the MSN
Member Directory. This tool, which is still accessible online
today allowed users to find friends online without
having to know their email address. It wasn't until
2003 when MSN Messenger got its first major
update. Version 6.0 was packed with a ton
of new features and brought a completely redesigned user
interface to MSN Messenger. Users now had the ability to
apply a custom user avatar, and customize the
conversation window for each of their contacts.
Version 7.0 of MSN Messenger, released
in 2005, brought both
XBOX Live and Yahoo! Messenger integration,
although the Yahoo! integration ended in 2012.
We also saw the intoduction of both Winks, which are short
animated emoticons, and audio messages.
In late 2005, Microsoft's all new Windows Live
platform was scheduled to be introduced,
which prompted a name change of the many MSN
related services. One of these was MSN Messenger which had its
name changed to Windows Live Messenger in version 8.0.
This new version focused on updating many of the
user interface elements to align better with other Windows Live
services, such as Windows Live contacts,
which could now be imported into Messenger.
In May of 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype
and a year later announced that Windows Live Messenger would be discontinued
in favour of Skype. This was most likely done
because Skype had a much larger userbase than Windows Live
Messenger ever did. It also did not really make much sense for Microsoft to have two different
instant messaging services, and combining the two services into one
would allow for more seamless interoperability
as Skype users
were not able to communicate with Windows Live Messenger users.
In early 2013 the transition was completed and all
Windows Live Messenger users were encouraged to start using
Skype. However the service was not completely shut
down until 2014. 15 years
after the program's initial introduction. So thats a brief
history of MSN Messenger. Although it was killed off in 2014
many dedicated fans of the program have found
ways to continue using it. Projects like Escargot
provide an unofficial server that patched
versions of MSN Messenger can connect to, and there's even dedicated sites
like Messenger Geek where users discuss their
own personal experience with MSN Messenger. So while
the program is pretty much forgotten by most people
it has a special place in the lives of many and is
an important chapter in the history of instant messaging.
That's all for this week's episode. I'd like to thank all of you
guys for watching and as always, I will see you in the next video.
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