For families, it presented the chance to communicate quickly and conveniently with each other at very little cost (aside from internet usage, which was penny a minute or alike on dial-up) in comparison to contracts of 10p per text for mobile phones, which weren’t good for serial texters. At the launch of MSN Messenger, the then Vice President of the Consumer and Commerce Group at Microsoft, Brad Chase, said: “Communications continues to be the cornerstone of the Internet, and instant messaging is becoming a more prevalent way for people to communicate.” From humble beginnings of a simple chat service that allowed users to communicate with others using Hotmail or AOL, popularity soared as newer services were added. Mobile phones were very basic in terms of features – to make you feel old, 1999 also signalled the birth of the Nokia 3210 - and so the instantaneous nature of MSN was undoubtedly advantageous to users. Instant messaging appeared at a time when computers had grown in popularity with more families buying them for personal use.

The Rise of MSN in the Ninetiesįrom the era that brought us Take That, Spice Girls, Oasis, Jurassic Park and countless other great things in pop culture, the nineties was arguably the best generation for technology. Whilst instant messaging still exists and is used, MSN’s disappearance follows in the footsteps of other services popular in the nineties that are no longer in the public eye such as AIM and ICQ. MSN Messenger has been replaced by Skype, which they acquired for £5.2 billion back in 2011, which incorporates a messenger service with video functionality and the ability to call people.

After fifteen years of operation since its launch in July 1999, Microsoft will finally switch off the service in China, the last country still to be using the service. At the end of this month, MSN Messenger will be no more.

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