Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced that in the weeks to come it will discontinue Google Talk integration from its Outlook.com in an email to customers. The decision to remove the platform comes in the wake of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) discontinuing the chat protocol that was used by Google Talk Platform. The new changes will also see the discontinuation of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Chat although Microsoft has not given a reason for this omission.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) on its defense reiterated that customers are starting to prefer using Skype for chatting as there was no impact on Google’s decision to shut down Google Talk and other associated APIs.
The move to discontinue the chat option offered by Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Facebook will not in any way affect the webmail services that keeps contacts up-to-date according to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). The changes will also not have any impact on Google accounts that users have connected to their outlook account. Discontinuation of Google Talk support in Outlook comes as a surprise as it was highly requested leading to its inclusion in May of 2013.
The new changes means Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will push its outlook users to use Skype in Outlook as a chatting option in a move that looks similar to the retiring of Windows Live Messenger in 2012. Google and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) chat services are expected to disappear in the coming weeks as the giant software company seeks to popularize Skype.
It remains to be seen if Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will do a great job in enhancing the functionality of Skype on outlook especially on the notification aspect that people continue to raise issues with.
Discontinuation of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) chat comes in the wake of reports that Facebook may move to deprecate support for the XMPP support as early as April 30. The changes just like Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are not expected to affect Outlook user’s Facebook accounts, and the contacts list is expected to stay updated with people.
