The end of IM as we know it

Instant Messaging is evolving. Microsoft announced that it will integrate its IM service, used by 300 million people, more closely with its Windows Live e-mail and social networking sites. That means users will no longer have to go to a separate window downloaded to a desktop. Instead, users will be able to strike up a conversation with someone right from an application they are already using such as Hotmail.

Like e-mail, games and other categories that have gradually migrated away from downloaded and off-the-shelf software, instant messaging is shifting toward the Web. And that means it can be accessed from any computer while taking up no space on a hard drive.
It's all part of a growing trend. Facebook, the world's fastest-growing social network, recently installed a toolbar that lets friends chat one-on-one while they browse the site.

"We had messaging, we had wall-to-wall [posting], and we thought having that private conversation was necessary," Facebook's product manager Peter Deng says. "It enables a channel of constant communication between you and your friends."

For more on the next generation of IM:
- check out this BusinessWeek.com article

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