Microsofts WLM Retirement Kills Yahoo Messenger Features

Yahoo has just announced that several Yahoo Messenger features would be discontinued next month, some of them because of Microsoft’s WLM retirement.

The Redmond-based software giant will shut down Windows Live Messenger in early 2013, as it plans to move all users to Skype and its built-in Messenger.

As of December 14, however, Yahoo Messenger will no longer work with Windows Live Messenger. YM users will continue to see WLM contacts online, but they won’t be able to chat. In addition, Yahoo Messenger Public Chat Rooms will close down on the same date, while the Pingbox feature will be taken offline.

Microsoft’s decision to retire Windows Live Messenger is clearly hurting Yahoo, but it’s pretty obvious that Yahoo Messenger is quickly losing ground in the war against other instant messengers.

Voice calls would remain avail able between YM users, but Phone In and Phone Out features would be discontinued, as Yahoo seems to lose the battle with Skype.

Via: Microsofts WLM Retirement Kills Yahoo Messenger Features