A match made in heaven?

Microsoft and Yahoo IM tie up
About time that there is some changes in the IM world. My laptop is cluttered with with the disparate utilities, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, not to mention all of the interim trial software that I load up. I’ve tried to consolidate using Trillian, but i’m not too happy with it – not sure if I trust it enough. And rather than becoming simpler, new guys like Google are jumping in making it more convoluted (is there any area that Google isn’t trying to muscle into? Reminds me of the days of when Lycos used to have huge war chest…)

Anyway, I don’t know what the driver for Yahoo and Microsoft tying up in IM is, but in terms of IM, but I’m happy with it they can help me to clean out some of the unnecessary virtual clutter. Have the reason I still have my Hotmail account is historica and is tied to my MSN messenger where all my IM contacts are. I’d rather just get rid of it, but keep put all my contacts on a single app – I wonder what level of migration of users MS and Yahoo have anticipated.
Would be great if they can make this a broader effort rather than just for the two of them. In fact, when dealing with Microsoft, it prob would be better for Yahoo if more partners came on board. I can’t see this being a reversal of Microsoft’s overall attitude to Yahoo – they have a load of other areas that they are battling over.