Don't they still lose money though? Certainly as of 2008 online services (search, hotmail, messenger) was losing over $1bn a year.

I don't believe that they've ever broken that down publicly but it would seem unlikely that any one of those services is making significant money if the who division is losing cash.

10 years on (I think the Hotmail acquisition was that far back) it should be making money unless Microsoft has become a charity.

I have accounts on Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger since their early days but my use of both of these services has diminished over last couple of years. I have observed the same attitude among my friends and family, all of them still have those accounts but they are active users of other services. I hope skype doesn't end up like Hotmail, windows live messenger.

I wouldn't call either of those an example of a successful freemium business model. A free, ad-supported business model, perhaps.