Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger
The chat client that taught a generation to sign in, nudge and set a status was folded into Skype and finally switched off in China.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
Microsoft's mass-market instant-messaging network, launched as MSN Messenger and later renamed Windows Live Messenger.
Messenger grew from a simple contact list into a global social system with custom status messages, emoticons, file sharing, webcam calls and the notorious nudge. It was officially available to ordinary users for more than a decade.
Existence timeline
Microsoft releases the public instant-messaging client and network.
Microsoft positions Messenger inside its new Windows Live family.
The renamed client reaches general release with expanded social features.
The company gains a second large consumer communication network.
Microsoft tells most users that Messenger accounts will move to Skype.
Most regional Messenger networks are retired and users are directed to Skype.
The separately operated mainland China version closes, ending official Messenger service.
Why it ended
After acquiring Skype, Microsoft retired the service in most markets in 2013 and migrated users to Skype. The separately operated mainland China service continued until 2014.
Last confirmed trace
Client installers, chat logs, screenshots, emoticon archives and the Messenger protocol's reverse-engineered history remain after the official network disappeared.
What it left behind
Many conventions of modern presence, contact lists and casual online identity were normalized through Messenger long before mobile messaging became dominant.
How we classified it
The network was a fully released global consumer service and all official regional operations later ended.
Normal general availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.