Skype, the communications platform once synonymous with video calling, is being shut down by Microsoft this spring in favor of the dreaded Microsoft Teams.
In a blog post, the company said they were “retiring” the video calling and messaging app on May 5th and gave existing Skype users the option to either switch over to Teams or export their data entirely.
“The way we communicate has evolved significantly over the years. From instant messaging to video calls, technology has continuously transformed how we connect with each other,” wrote President of Collaborative Apps and Platforms Jeff Teper. “In order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams (free), our modern communications and collaboration hub. ”
Skype was founded in 2003 by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström as a voice over IP (VoIP) service and gained popularity as a way to make free calls between computers or cheaper calls from computers to telephones.
After being acquired by eBay in 2005, Skype introduced a video calling component to its platform — years before FaceTime, Google Meet, and most crucially, Zoom entered the space.
In 2011, however, Microsoft acquired Skype and failed in their attempt to modernize the service. The company instead put most of its efforts into the business-focused Teams, which launched in 2016.
Still, there was a brief window of opportunity to revive Skype during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, when the world moved toward videoconferencing for both business meetings and virtual gatherings.
Instead, Zoom became the go-to platform for awkward team calls, remote learning, and virtual hangouts. Eventually, Microsoft Teams caught on for enterprise use, and Skype was fully left behind.
So, in two months time, Skype will join Microsoft’s much less-beloved Internet Explorer in the digital afterlife.
Content shared from consequence.net.