For as long as I can remember, the brightly colored MSN butterfly that is lightly atop the "N" of the company's logo will soon be a thing of the past. I can even recall a time, probably in the early stages of the MSN website, when the butterfly glided from right to left across the monitor screen only to land on the MSN logo. Thank goodness for javascript. And who can forget the MSN television commercials where the guy wore a butterfly costume.

What is the reasoning behind the retirement of the butterfly? According to the Microsoft development team that is working on the project, MSN Messenger as we know it will also be a thing of the past. The new product will be Windows Live Messenger and it's all part of the upcoming Windows Live and Windows Office Live products. While you'll still be able to use your current MSN Messenger program as you do now, The Windows Live offering will seam together Windows Live Search, Windows Live Favorites and Windows Live Mail, just to name a few. Other Live products will deal with mobile devices, PC functionality, news and blog presentation, virus scanning and a slew of other applications for small businesses.

If you want to read up on this upcoming product from Microsoft check out this link to the Windows Live web page.