Goodbye, Windows Live Messenger!
再见了,MSN!

As the BBC notes, Microsoft will soon be retiring its instant message chat tool and will instead be encouraging users to use Skype.
援引BBC消息,微软很快就会让即时聊天工具MSN退休了,取而代之的是鼓励用户使用Skype。

"Skype and Messenger are coming together," wrote Tony Bates, President of the Skype Division at Microsoft, on Tuesday. "We will retire Messenger in all countries worldwide in the first quarter of 2013 (with the exception of mainland China where Messenger will continue to be available).
"微软公司Skype部门的负责人Tony Bates于周二表示,“Skype和Messenger将合并。我们会在2013年第一季度在全球各个国家停用MSN(中国大陆除外,可继续使用)。”

Brian Hall,general manager of Microsoft's Windows Live unit, had a similar message for users on the Windows blog.
微软负责MSN的总经理Brian Hall在其微软的博客中也发布了类似的消息。

Tuesday's announcement comes several months after the software giant bought Skype for $8.5 billion in May 2011.
周二的这则声明在微软于2011年5月以85亿美元的价格收购了Skype以后的几个月后发出。

Still, even though Microsoft promises that Skype will offer "a better experience and [an] even stronger network," the Windows instant messaging tool will undoubtedly be missed by many.
尽管微软承诺Skype将会提供“更好的体验和更强大的网络”,毫无疑问,还是会有很多人想念MSN的。

沪江小编:想想当年QQ还没有普及的时候,广大白领们都是用MSN。以至于后来MSN似乎成了身份品味的象征。而现在,MSN就要退出历史的舞台了(虽然上述消息称中国大陆还是可以继续使用的),那些以“我只用MSN”来标榜自己的人也可以偃旗息鼓了。也许,MSN的退役,最开心的莫过于QQ了,以后要是3Q再打起来,就没有人会说,我去注册个MSN了。对于微软放弃MSN,你有什么看法?欢迎参加讨论>>>