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Research dossier · Science & Nature

Messenger Plus!

Software add-on for Windows Live Messenger and Skype

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ508370 ↗
Source-derived summary

Messenger Plus! (formerly known as Messenger Plus! Live, commonly abbreviated MsgPlus, Plus!, or incorrectly as MSN Plus) is an add-on for Windows Live Messenger and Skype. The software provides additional functionality to Microsoft's instant messaging client, Windows Live Messenger, by adding its own controls to the main interface. These controls affect Messenger's behaviour and appearance, often through additional dialog boxes.

The add-on was first released in May 2001 under the name "The Messenger Plus! Extension" for MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger. It later changed its name to "Messenger Plus!" and then, for the release of the new Windows Live Messenger client, "Messenger Plus! Live" was chosen. In 2011, the name was changed back to "Messenger Plus!" again.

Editorial summary

“Messenger Plus!” enters the record as software add-on for Windows Live Messenger and Skype. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Messenger, Plus and Software can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical orientation to terminology and classification, particularly when read beside dated observations, specimens or technical literature. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2001, 2011—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Messenger, Plus and Software.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Messenger Plus!” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Messenger, Plus and Software provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q508370. The first chronological checks are 2001 and 2011.

Critical limits

A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Messenger Plus!”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Messenger Plus! primary sources, Messenger Plus! archive and Messenger research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Messenger Plus!”?
  2. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
  3. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Messenger Plus!” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.