In order to seize a greater share of the instant communications market, Netease has connected its instant messenging software POPO to Microsoft's MSN.

By so doing, its users will be able to communicate with their friends or other people on MSN, provided that they upgrade their copy of POPO to the latest version and follow the relevant instructions. Netease representatives said they took this move to facilitate users' communication.

This new function on POPO is little more than a technological improvement and does not involve any cooperation between the two companies. However, MSN users will also be passively sent to the chat room of POPO even if they do not have an account for the service. A Microsoft representative said they knew nothing about this prior to hearing of it from the media.

Netease's action can be considered a voluntary integration to the much more popular MSN, and is thought to be a future trend in the instant communications industry.