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Windows Messenger - whatever happened to?

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Weaver:
I used to use Windows Messenger [aka MSN Messenger aka Live Messenger] all the time. It seemed to die a horrible death. God only knows why. A real shame, as it was a zero-hassle way of getting the wonderful Remote Assistance going, which I used to use all the time in my work. It was superb in WinXp because it was in every box, albeit a rather old version.

When VIsta came out, for some crazy reason to do with politics, Windows Messenger was no longer preinstalled, and I had to install this thing called Live Messenger with every installation. This was full of unrelated bloatware crap too, iirc. (It was a total pig to script that installation as well. In the end I wrote my own install-helper tool thing that made the installation process a lot cleaner, with no downloads and none of the bloat to start with.) This was a horrible decision by MS, and I think they were trying to push business users towards some other offering.

What finally happened to Windows Messenger/Live Messenger? And why? And what is the story about Remote Assistance these days?

Ronski:
I think this is the likely reason

https://www.wired.com/2011/05/microsoft-buys-skype-2/

Weaver:
I forgot about the Skype purchase. I presume they paid that insane amount of money, completely wasted, simply to stop Google and the rest from purchasing Skye. Either that, or out fear that by some miracle Skype might grow into the next Google or Facebook - stamping on acorns. I remember was it IBM buying Display Postscript off Adobe and then immediately burying it, and at the time I assumed that that was a similar case of acorn squashing.

burakkucat:

--- Quote from: Weaver on March 15, 2017, 01:39:05 PM --- . . . simply to stop Google and the rest from purchasing Skye.

--- End quote ---

I didn't realise that the Island was up for sale! How does it feel living in M$ land?  ::)

Weaver:
Oops ;D

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