It took a while but I am able to IM my Google contacts but surprisingly I still cannot IM my contacts who have a Microsoft account.

This happens on both my personal Windows 8 machine and my work Windows 7 machine.  I primarily use Opera but I also use IE.  It happens in both browsers.

On a side note, one contact who, like me, has both Microsoft and Google accounts, only shows up as connected via Google.  It is also worth noting that this person does not use their Google account and so the best way is to connect with them with a Microsoft account.

Any ideas?