Microsoft to Kill the Messenger, Supplant It With Skype After buying Skype last year, Microsoft has decided to put it to good use as a replacement for Windows Live Messenger. "The end result is you get something that's more universal than what you had before and with quite more capability," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. Microsoft will phase out Windows Live Messenger, its consumer instant messaging platform, over the next several months as its users are moved to Skype, the company announced this week. Microsoft hopes to smooth the transition to Skype for Live Messenger users by allowing them to log in to Skype with their Microsoft ID so that contacts in one program will automatically transfer to the other. The move to Skype will be beneficial to Live Messenger users, said Microsoft spokesperson Dani Reese. Bringing together Messenger and Skype contacts within Skype provides a richer and easier way for users to communicate...