Earlier this week news emerged that Microsoft was to discontinue MSN Messenger for Mac in favor of a new “really, really cool and awesome” Mac client – due out in late 2008 or early 2009 – with an all-new API and network cross-compatibility with AIM, Google Talk, and ICQ.

Even though the news apparently came from a Microsoft employee speaking at the Georgia Institute of Technology's IEEE Student Branch, the company’s Mac business unit today quashed those reports confirming that the current version 6.x of the IM client will be included in Office 2008 for Mac and version 7.0 is expected time after the release of Office 2008 in January, featuring full A/V functionality – finally.