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Skype for Windows 10 PCs
Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 10 release will bring a new Messaging app that looks a whole lot like the Apple iMessages app for Mac OS X.
During its Windows 10 consumer event on Wednesday, Microsoft announced Skype will be built into the operating system’s communications suite. Now the firm is showing off the integration and Messaging app running on a Windows 10 PC for the first time.
In a post on the Skype blog (via The Verge), the company debuted the new two-tabbed iMessage-like design (pictured), which is scarily similar to Apple's app, even down to the circular contact icons.
The Skype messaging, video and audio calling experience will be built into the Messaging app (which returns after being axed from Windows 8.1) and will sync up perfectly with the apps on other Windows devices, Macs, iOS and Android devices.
Microsoft says the announcements over the last couple of days is “just the start” leaving the door open for the firm to make Skype more like iMessage in more ways than just the design.
Skype mobile users can send traditional text messages from the app, which are then synced back to the Windows desktop version. The firm could potentially improve this by allowing users to send and receive SMS messages to and from phone numbers rather than Skype accounts with everything synced across all devices.
As part of its new Continuity feature in iOS and Mac OS X, Apple recently opened the door for iMessage users on the Mac to send and receive messages from Android users as well as fellow iOS device owners.
Microsoft is already allowing Skype users to find friends using phone numbers rather than user names, so it seems the next logical step would be to sync up cellular texts with instant messages.
The first version of the Messaging app, including Skype integration, will be available in a forthcoming iteration of the Windows 10 consumer preview.