MYOB have officially announced an upgrade to MYOB Essentials, launching an additional upgrade to the accounting software called 'new essentials'.

Can you convert MYOB essentials to Xero?

Yes, you can port the Historical data from MYOB essential to Xero, and it won't mess up your Xero file, Just the conversion balances fed in Xero file would be changed accordingly. MYOB has export options to produce csv files for invoices,bills etc.

Is MYOB down at the moment?

Current MYOB status is up.