The Lion version of Messages, which existed as a beta only and gave users a taste of the way the program operates on Mountain Lion, will never emerge from beta and will be discontinued on December 14, according to an email from Apple to existing Messages beta users. The change does not affect those running Messages on Mountain Lion, but closes the only non-ML portal to the service. Users are encouraged to upgrade to Mountain Lion, but those who can't will be able to continue to use iChat, which offered many of the same features but lacked the full level of message integration.
