Microsoft has cut down Google Talk and Facebook Messenger support from Outlook.com, saying that these features will be removed within the next couple of weeks.
There are a number of reasons for this decision, however the most prominent reason is likely the fact that the company wants to push Skype.
"Within the next couple of weeks, we will be discontinuing support for Facebook Chat in Outlook.com. And due to Google's decision to discontinue the chat protocol used by the Google Talk platform, we can no longer provide Google Chat in Outlook.com," said the company in its statement. "We understand that this may disappoint some of our customers, but we hope that you'll try Skype for Outlook.com chat, and video and voice calling, so you can take advantage of the more robust ways to keep in touch with friends and family."
While Microsoft did mention its reason for dropping GChat, which is because of the fact that Google has changed its GChat protocol, it did not cite the reason for dropping support for Facebook Messenger. The assumption is that the company wants to continue to push Skype as a messaging service.
The move is an interesting one for Microsoft, but it does make sense. Skype already has a huge user base and it would not be unheard of for users to begin using Skype over things like Facebook Messenger. However, Facebook Messenger has been growing quickly as a chat service over the past year or so, especially because of the fact that Facebook now requires mobile users to use the Messenger app in order to use send messages on mobile.
It is, however, likely that Microsoft will lose a number of customers to the likes of Facebook Messenger, many of whom will use Messenger uniquely. Skype is still largely seen as a video chatting service rather than an instant messaging service, and that is unlikely to change in the near future, especially as other instant messaging services like WhatsApp gain traction.
In fact, it is likely that Skype as a video chatting service will face troubles in the future, as services like Facebook continue to develop and update their video chatting capabilities.
It's important to note that the changes will not change connections between Outlook accounts and Facebook accounts other than chat. What this means is that the "People" page will remain updated with contacts and their information from services like Facebook and Google.
