Windows Live Messenger now supports XMPP!

Microsoft has taken a major initiative by adding support for XMPP protocol to their Windows Live Messenger platform.

This means that tons of third party apps like Pidgin would no longer have to rely on reverse-engineered hacks to connect to this instant messaging protocol.

The company said:

Today we’re taking another step, with the public availability of access to the Messenger network via XMPP, an open standard. This means that anyone can build innovative messaging clients—either stand-alone or built into their devices—that include access to Messenger’s 300 million active users.

Microsoft highlighted the features of XMPP that they currently support:

RFC6120: XMPP: Core
RFC6121: XMPP: Instant Messaging and Presence. Roster management is not supported.
XEP-0054: vcard-temp. The Messenger XMPP service supports fetching vCards, but doesn’t support updating vCards.
XEP-0085: Chat State Notifications
XEP-0203: Delayed Delivery