Windows desktop packaging being discontinued

[brogers5]

This dialog just showed up when I updated to the latest beta build ("short" version 223.0.0.1.215, build #649571860, package version 223.0.649571860-beta):

From what I gather from the provided help article, the "newer version" is really the version distributed via the Microsoft Store, and the "direct" option historically depended on by the Chocolatey package is now only supported for macOS. I suspect Facebook is spinning this as an "upgrade" to phase out the traditional Windows desktop packaging.

Sure enough, the download link has been unlisted from Messenger's download page, and it's now steering Windows users toward the Microsoft Store. While the direct download page still works for the time being, I suspect this will change soon.

Unfortunately, this also leaves me with no path to continue development for the Chocolatey package. As I do not have redistribution rights for Messenger, I am dependent on whatever distribution methods Facebook provides to the public. Chocolatey currently lacks support for managing Microsoft Store applications, and as far as I know, there are no near-term plans to implement this, which will force me to suspend package updates until something changes.

[brogers5]

Whelp, it's official. Facebook has finally flipped the kill switch. This dialog now appears when launching the app:

Seems this dialog got introduced after 214.0.612664502 (Stable) and 215.0.613887181 (Beta).

If you revert to a previous version that didn't include this, one of a few things will happen:

• After a successful login, this modal dialog will show up, and force an upgrade to the latest version:

  

• The login attempt will throw an error: "Oops! Something went wrong logging in. Please try again."

• The help article I mentioned earlier will be opened in a new browser tab, and Messenger will effectively ignore the login attempt.

Given that the package is effectively useless with the app in this state, I'm going to unlist the package from the Community Repository and wind down the GitHub repository.