Skype is to throw open its doors and welcome Windows Live Messenger users from 8 April.

Microsoft and Skype have today revealed that desktop versions of Messenger will be start to be upgraded to Skype on 8 April. The process will take a few weeks to complete.

Upgrades will begin with English language clients, and finish up with Brazilian Portuguese on 30 April or later.

An official blog entry reveals these details and more – you can read the full copy here.

Starting from 8 April, Messenger users (previously Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger) will find themselves unable to use the service. But don’t panic, this isn’t the cause of a catastrophic technical fault – simply wait to be prompted to install Skype, or follow a few painless steps to get yourself on the way.

How to update from Messenger to Skype TODAY

All you need to do is download Skype – it’s a free download and you can grab it from here. By signing in with your Messenger ID (the same as your Microsoft account), you can ensure all of your Messenger, Hotmail and Outlook.com contacts are brought over together. Easy.

During the installation process you’ll also be asked if you want to change your default internet homepage to MSN (and reset your searches to Bing). Use the tick boxes to apply and make these changes.

Skype will ask whether you wish to keep your existing Messenger profile picture, or upload a new one. In this example we’ve retained our original pic to keep a little bit of Messenger throughout the transition.

When you sign into Skype, you will have all of your friends from Messenger, Facebook and Skype at your fingertips. Simply click on your friend and start chatting.

All of your friends can be found in the contact list – or you can choose who to view by clicking the ‘Contacts’ menu and selecting from Messenger, Skype, Facebook or only those online.

Skype – I thought that was used to make calls?

Correct, but making free internet calls (to other Skype users) only plays a small part. Skype still allows you to send instant messages, make video calls (with other Skype users and Facebook friends) and compose texts to mobile devices. It also supports some classic Messenger features like storing instant message conversation history, sharing files and contact info, plus support for group video calling.

Free 60 minutes of Skype Credit

Skype is available on a plethora of devices and platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS, Windows Phone, Android and soon Blackberry. What’s more, we’ve been offering MSN users a free 60 minutes of Skype Credit for telling us which celebrity they’d like to call.

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