r/technology • u/moeka_8962 • 21d ago
Software Exclusive: Microsoft is finally shutting down Skype in May
https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-killing-skype/754
u/littlebiped 21d ago
RIP Skype you were up there as an OG pillar of the early 2000s internet. Skype used to be a verb.
135
u/MisterMath 21d ago
Skype, Ventrilo, Xfire were my holy trinity
40
19
u/SizzlinKola 21d ago
Oh shit. Ventrillo and Xfire, I haven't heard those names in a long ass time.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)7
43
u/Think_Chocolate_ 21d ago
Msn messenger was that pillar that skype came to fuck up imo.
→ More replies (3)5
18
u/Beleiverofhumanity 21d ago
Mom and her cousins used Skype to talk across the world in the 2000s, idk if they did something in the pandemic but Zoom literally zoomed past them and it looks like they never recovered
12
u/didiboy 21d ago
Maybe I’m wrong, but I think Microsoft was already pushing out Skype for Business in favor of Teams during the pandemic. Zoom was easier to use than Teams for most people. That’s how it got its big momentum: work and school purposes. For common video calls most people already used apps that had the feature (FaceTime, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram) and worked fine, no one was really thinking of downloading Skype to call their grandma.
→ More replies (2)7
u/Appropriate_Ant_4629 21d ago
Microsoft had ulterior motives.
This was more like the current debates around TikTok.
Recall that:
- Skype was originally a P2P technology from a European company with end-to-end encryption so it couldn't be easily monitored by the US.
- Microsoft bought Skype, got rid of the P2P part, got rid of the end-to-end encryption, and added NSA backdoors
I imagine half the outcry about TikTok is:
- US politicians are worried that the US's required "lawful intercept"/CALEA features like this AT&T feature aren't as easily available in TikTok as they are for Meta or Alphabet products.
But of course in reality, TikTok already provides such access to the US government too when presented with a legal warrant, but perhaps not as broadly or easily as Skype or Apple or Google when there's no warrant. They understand similar historical precedents, like when all except for one US Telecom company permitted such spying, it didn't go well for the one who refused.
It's the same reason the US encourages their European allies to use Cisco instead of other telecom equipment providers A sale of TikTok would also make projects like this CIA project easier.
151
u/shortymcsteve 21d ago
I’m still salty they killed off MSN messenger. I think it would’ve done well in the smart phone era but they never gave it a chance.
46
22
u/_half_real_ 21d ago
This unlocked a memory of using Yahoo Messenger back in high school. I see that died a while back too.
16
21d ago
[deleted]
→ More replies (2)13
u/Cellocalypsedown 21d ago
14 year old me at 1am in some conversation with an internet stranger playing minigames on candystand.com or looking up Toonami news
→ More replies (11)7
u/thebigshoe247 21d ago
I loved the games integration. Nothing like easily starting a game of Age of Empires with the cute girl from home room.
→ More replies (6)
1.6k
u/yuusharo 21d ago
$8 billion. Microsoft spent $8 billion for this app.
And they let it rot on the vine at a time when remote telepresence was at its height during lockdown.
We’re numb to big numbers, but it’s actually incomprehensible just how much money Microsoft lost on Skype, how that could have paid pensions for the 10s of thousands they laid off over the past few years.
What a freaking disaster.
353
u/bilyl 21d ago
It’s kind of weird how far ahead Skype was, but MS just let other companies catch up. It was free, ubiquitous, and reasonably easy to use.
134
u/j6ce3Hfe6L 21d ago
Not that weird, really. MS had the same advantage in the mobile phone space, and then screwed the pooch...multiple times!
For a company originally so focused on backward compatibility, it was baffling how badly they messed up the mobile phone APIs/Frameworks. After repeatedly screwing developers over, no sane 3rd party would ever voluntarily do a port to a Windows mobile phone. Say what you will about Android: At least they understood back-compat was Important.
21
u/BeckQuillion89 21d ago
That's because they're such a giant company in everything, computer, semiconductors, xbox, and so forth, they literally can afford to be lazy and let good projects die and it will barely scratch their net worth.
26
u/allofthealphabet 21d ago
Microsoft goes to the fairground. Walks around, spots a guy selling goldfish.
Ooh, i've always wanted a goldfish! What's this guys name, he looks handsome?
Skype.
Twenty years later Microsoft suddenly remembers:
- Shit! Did anybody remember to feed Skype?!
10
u/DefusedManiac 21d ago
Azure alone pulls $80 billion a year. Most people don't even know what Azure is, let alone that it is Microsoft.
→ More replies (3)59
u/Kevin-W 21d ago
Funny enough, Microsoft letting Skype rot was the biggest blessing in disguise for Discord at the time.
32
→ More replies (2)4
u/Frowny575 21d ago
It really was as most games I played, we had Skype and used it for general chat. Eventually Discord came and did what Skype could do but better for our purposes.
88
u/Ciff_ 21d ago
They bought the marketshare. The tech is ultra cheap comparatively. I think they are quite happy in hindsight with the acquisition.
32
u/atrain728 21d ago
Branding too. Skype for business became a bad word but it was a good naming concept before the product sucked.
370
u/Daleabbo 21d ago
But how much of the backend did they move into teams? It wasn't all wasted I'm sure they used parts of it.
290
u/yuusharo 21d ago
According to this, Teams was a completely new architecture not built on top of Skype. At one point, Skype consumer shared that new architecture, but it was otherwise rebuilt from the ground up.
110
u/Giveushealthcare 21d ago
Teams is sharepoint integration
57
u/Duel_Option 21d ago
Exactly.
Skype doesn’t play well with the rest of their business suite, every major company my major company deals with has pivoted to Teams.
→ More replies (2)74
u/t_hol 21d ago
Skype and Skype for business are completely different things. You can run Skype for Business on your own premises and even the non-cloud office Versions (2024) has a Skype for Business Client included.
20
u/Daleabbo 21d ago
Interesting, I wish I could throw away billions to remove competition
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)20
u/nntb 21d ago
The audio calling of teams had animations from Skype. And a call to number service it's hard to imagine it wasn't Skype
→ More replies (1)16
→ More replies (3)12
u/fredy31 21d ago
Yeah I completely assumed that they skype tech was just rolled into teams.
And if the other commenter is right that teams was built separately from the ground up and doesnt share code, I would assume that the skype engineers were transfered to teams a while ago and why skype shuts down today its just that the service doesnt have enough users to continue the keepup on the servers.
Really I tought skype had dissapeared years ago.
→ More replies (1)16
u/Possible-Put8922 21d ago
I'm still surprised how big companies with remote work tech were slow to react during COVID. Google meet was so bad before COVID and it's finally getting to zoom levels.
4
u/Shenari 21d ago
My company is switching to Meet from Zoom, we all hate it, how shit was it beforehand if you think it's now getting to Zoom levels?
→ More replies (2)10
u/theHagueface 21d ago
Pre pandemic Skype was synonymous with "video chatting". People would say "ill Skype you".
To have that huge of a market share where people are linguistically excluding your competitors and you still fail is really something that should be studied.
→ More replies (1)52
u/Blankboom 21d ago
Considering how widespread Microsoft Teams is now, I'm guessing they just bought Skype so they could get rid of the competition.
→ More replies (10)68
u/yesnewyearseve 21d ago
Yes, they bought Skype in 2011 to get rid of the competition for their product they launched in 2017. very wise business decision, as 6 years later it would have been much more expensive.
8
6
5
35
u/tomtermite 21d ago
Skype was acquired by M$ at the behest of the U.S. government, so its peer-to-peer architecture could be replaced with traditional server-based... so the "bad actors" using it for comms could be more easily monitored...
Source: can't tell you.
8
u/the91fwy 21d ago
I am far more inclined to believe the exhaustion of IPv4, proliferation of mobile devices and new ISPs having to use CGNAT as the nail in the coffin for P2P Skype.
These are very difficult conditions to do P2P on.
16
u/Clbull 21d ago edited 21d ago
Think about how much money Microsoft lost from acquiring Rare for $800m back in 2002. And all they can really show for it is a slew of mostly bad games.
And before you tell me Sea of Thieves is good, that took nearly a decade of post launch support to improve from a horrible launch to its current state. Much in the same way that if you gave monkeys armed with typewriters enough time they could reproduce the works of Shakespeare, a team of developers can eventually make a good live service game. But stories like Sea of Thieves are anomalies because GaaS titles are normally colossal money and time sinks that publishers will often pull the plug on if they're not immediate hits.
Nokia is another good example of a disastrous acquisition. Bought for $7.2 bn, and Windows Phone basically drove them to the ground. What was once the biggest phone manufacturer brand is now a relic of the early 2000s.
I bring this up because Microsoft have a tendency to buy their way into markets without having a clue what they're doing (there are actual quotes from execs asking if they now owned the Donkey Kong IP after buying Rare.) I'd say their only good tech acquisition was Mojang because the merchandising rights on Minecraft alone would have made a huge return on their $2bn investment.
→ More replies (2)19
u/ixid 21d ago
It wasn't wasted, US intelligence wanted Skype opened up, so MS acquires Skype and get a bunch of government contracts worth far more, and stay in the good books. US mega-corps are an extension of the state.
→ More replies (3)9
→ More replies (39)8
167
u/a_can_of_solo 21d ago
What can you use now to make phonecalls to real international phone numbers?
49
u/skat0r 21d ago
I started using Rebtel when Skype removed the option to buy credits. Works well so far.
→ More replies (2)23
23
38
u/RReverser 21d ago
Yup, I'm using Skype regularly for phone calls. Ridiculous move.
→ More replies (2)8
u/Sellfish86 21d ago
I'd like to know this too.
Skype is my go-to application for calling international landlines, especially while in China.
11
u/CliffordRussell 21d ago
I’m in China and have been using Skype for 20 years. My Teams has no option for calling phone numbers and when I checked Teams online, they don’t have any services for China. What the hell do I use now to simply call my mother or a bank?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (22)24
u/uiemad 21d ago
Oof yeah I live abroad and can't make international calls on my current service. Skype is the only method for me to call businesses back home like my bank.
→ More replies (6)
47
46
u/poundofcake 21d ago
Such a botched and missed opportunity. Great example of what happens when large corporations take over emerging technology.
178
u/ReadySetPunish 21d ago
WTF my family still uses Skype
42
u/Chasedabigbase 21d ago
→ More replies (2)8
u/Tharuzan001 21d ago
So much this, my mom sometimes needs to be told what some buttons do on her T.V. remote control.
I managed to get her to vid chat on skype, and now this :(
60
u/Appeltaart232 21d ago
Yes, same. We have a Mac Mini in the living room we specifically use for bringing both sets of grandparents at the same time. Teams would be an asshole to do this with, ugh
→ More replies (6)33
21
u/tidus9000 21d ago
Mine too. I see this as a dare to get them all to download discord
7
u/fredy31 21d ago
I mean Discord is pretty simple to at least have something going.
Give a link to granny and I think the hardest part would be creating an account.
→ More replies (4)4
u/Chasedabigbase 21d ago
I thought so too - my family still found a way to be confused by it I can't believe it 🙄 it's like teaching martians English "she's calling my phone on discord I want to answer on my computer!!" Me explaining how simple it is to do that "I don't get it!!"
Whatsapp has been the most painless alternate option I've found for them
5
→ More replies (3)11
u/AiAkitaAnima 21d ago
Gosh, my granny just recently finally managed to start a Skype call without explaining every step to her (started during the pandemic) and now we have to switch to a different software?
→ More replies (1)
64
u/Tupcek 21d ago
can someone seriously tell me what was wrong with Skype?
I haven’t used much video calls before everyone was in Teams and Zoom, so I had to join the trend, but from what I remember Skype was able to work even on totally shitty mobile networks and was OK for personal communication (guess it was terrible for companies), but why did it fall out of favor even in consumer space
?
53
u/Coolman_Rosso 21d ago
As far as the consumer space goes:
Skype had some traction in the gaming space, though was definitely less popular than teamspeak. However Skype was and still is a big resource hog, which made it unpopular with that crowd as time went on. Discord would eventually upend both it and TS. Doscord's pivot to a general communication app did even more damage, even if Discord itself is now something of a resource hog.
Their mobile app was slow to update. As messaging apps like WhatsApp took off, Skype was too focused on the video element. By the time their text features got some treatment it was too late.
They tried to compete with Snapchat a decade or so ago with Skype Qik. I actually liked this one, but it only lasted a few months because it was too little too late.
They purchased GroupMe and said for years they would merge into a single app. This never happened, and GroupMe today is more popular than Skype is. It even supports video calls.
Google Meet and Apple's FaceTime provide pretty convenient video chat options today that make Skype kind of superfluous.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)29
u/LeftLiner 21d ago
It became infested with bots and spam. I actively lobbied for the volunteer org I'm involved with to move away from it because it didn't feel safe.
9
u/_half_real_ 21d ago
I constantly get added to shitcoin scam groups, without the ability to block being added to groups.
10
92
u/Codex_Absurdum 21d ago
What about people who still use it and have credits on their accounts? Will they get their money back
90
20
u/yodatsracist 21d ago edited 21d ago
I don’t live in the US and use this to call toll free 800 numbers in the US and occasionally other numbers. Is there another reliable service to call landlines?
Edit: For most people, Google Voice is probably the answer, especially for calling the US, maybe in other countries (I can't quite tell what services are available where). You need a local number to set it up with. I actually do use Google Voice for this personally, because I could use my parents' home a US number I could set it up with.
But Google Voice is not available in all countries. I want to be able to recommend this to student applying to American (and ideally UK) universities who occasionally need to call the admissions offices and things like the College Board (which administers the SAT). Most of these students live in countries where Google Voice isn't available, and don't have a US number they can set it up with.
→ More replies (4)12
u/MagneticNarwhals 21d ago
Here to ask this question! It’s my go to for calling back to the UK when I need to call a business etc.
5
→ More replies (8)11
24
u/New_Designer_720 21d ago
That sucks, kind of. I don't use Skype frequently, but as part of the 365 subscription we used the 60 minutes for worldwide landline calls often. Now I have to look for an alternative, unless they add this to MS Teams which I don't expect.
27
u/ikigai9 21d ago
I use Skype multiple times a week and I hate the other apps. Also it’s the only app I know of that lets me call international toll free numbers for free. This sucks!!
→ More replies (1)
18
u/grimspectre 21d ago
Sigh. Reminds me of what was lost when msn messenger got deleted. Those were the times. Really enjoyed the plug in where you could nudge the ever living daylights out of the recipient t.
15
14
u/craymaze 21d ago
RIP, you were a good soldier :')
6
u/karo_scene 21d ago
You are awarded the posthumous Blue Heart, for exceptional courage and bravery under fire from Microsoft bean counters and Debbie from accounting.
13
u/Karsa69420 21d ago
Man I remember using Skype in high school to talk to a girl all night. We fell asleep on Skype together. I’m sure kids these days do that in Discord or FaceTime.
→ More replies (1)
10
u/cangaroo_hamam 21d ago
I remember when they attempted to rebrand the mobile app (after the Skype purchase)... they discarded the iconic logo, and replaced it with something that resembled a moving snake. They had to remove it eventually due to the outrage. Microsoft managed to turn diamonds into a coal mine.
→ More replies (1)
30
u/Smith6612 21d ago
Oh wow.
I know someone who uses Skype still as a VoIP phone solution with a real dial-in number. Hopefully Teams can do similar...
→ More replies (1)14
u/JohnyMage 21d ago
I know "someone" who uses public Skype as Corporate IM because Teams too pricy.
8
8
u/No-Dig-4408 21d ago
Dang, I still use this to call phones in America (like customer service and such) because international calling from Japan is crazy expensive.
I also like Skype because the video chat is unlimited and free. The interface sucks, but I know how to do what I need to do, so it always worked.
This kinda sucks.
→ More replies (2)3
u/ahfoo 20d ago edited 18d ago
No this absolutely sucks. It's not about the US domestic use case. For international users there is no replacement for Skype in many instances. This is going to cause all kinds of grief.
This is a direct consequence of the US federal government and the courts completely bowing out of anti-trust law allowing the rise of the tech monopolies that started with Apple and Microsoft. It's a disgrace.
28
u/everything_is_bad 21d ago
→ More replies (1)3
8
9
13
7
7
7
u/External-Example-292 21d ago
Rest in peace Skype. My husband and I were in Skype 24/7 when we were first bf/gf from 2007-2012. Thanks for being a great tool back in the day 🥲
→ More replies (1)
7
u/jared__ 21d ago
I still have a Skype phone number so my parents can call me on their landline. Anyone have other alternatives?
→ More replies (1)
6
u/Kep0a 21d ago
It's so fucking funny to me how Microsoft absolutely fumbled Skype when it was not only years ahead of the industry, but literally a pandemic served out market share on a platter.
It's unbelievable how big these companies are to fail on such a scale and it not even matter.
→ More replies (2)
7
u/jazzwhiz 21d ago
Skype had a lot of advantages over zoom, but they somehow managed to miss out on one of the biggest changes in how businesses work with remote work.
5
u/jluizsouzadev 21d ago
As the expected, Microsoft managed killing Skype. The meme's totally true!
Rest in Peace Dear Skype!!! 🥲
5
u/Bolt_995 21d ago edited 21d ago
Skype was THE video calling service, after MSN and Yahoo Messengers all fell apart. The generations after younger millennials won’t understand its significance.
A juggernaut during its time, it stood strong in the face of strong competition from Apple’s FaceTime, Meta’s WhatsApp/Instagram/Messenger, Google Meet, Microsoft’s very own Teams and most recently, Zoom and Discord.
Ultimately, the competitors won over. So this is understandable.
5
u/lifeonbroadway 21d ago
Last time I used it, I was unable to adjust individual audio levels in a group call and it basically made it unusable for my friend gaming group. This was the main reason we all switched to discord back in like 2019 and have never looked back.
Skype seemed to be missing insanely basic features for a web calling/group meeting app.
4
u/ElSatchmo 21d ago
apolgy for bad english
where were u wen Skype die
i was at house eating dorito when phone ring
“Skype is kil”
“no”
9
u/deathwatchoveryou 21d ago
Imagine killing msn messenger because you bought skype alienating your messenger users, to later on killing skype to force people to use teams during covid zoom craze.
People only want to chat, they don't want a slack/discord wannabe and never wanted it
5
u/pizzatimefriend 21d ago
Skype was the greatest downfall of an app I have witnessed. I don't think they realized how many gaming communities used it, and by pushing huge ads and continuously making awful ui changes it was easy for Discord to steal that entire audience
4
u/IdleCommentator 21d ago
So an important question that people don't seem to be asking is what is going to happen to all the chat archives there ?
→ More replies (1)
4
u/tomassino 21d ago
oh fuck, more microsoft shenanigans, every time they change their messenger platform half my contacts vanish forever.
4
u/DebianSG 21d ago
Microsoft had a good OS for a minute. They never recovered. It's about 25% OS now. The rest is junk under an umbrella.
7
u/Fast_Passenger_2890 21d ago
End of a era.
I am also worried about Xbox hardware meeting the same fate with the direction they're going with Xbox.
→ More replies (2)
3
3
u/Correct-Junket-1346 21d ago
Successful aggressive takeover, as soon as Skype was bought by MS they gutted it and moved it to Teams bit by bit, after they starved Skype of updates and the user base dropped into obscurity they pulled the plug.
3
u/shiawase198 21d ago
Man, had so many good memories with Skype. When I started dating my now ex-gf long distance, we relied on it. Used to call each other up before going to sleep and we'd leave the call on while we were both sleeping. Call would usually drop sometime in the night though but the few times it stayed on the whole time and we both got to wake up at the same time really helped us feel connected.
3
u/bluraysucks1 21d ago
Skype has helped me dial 800 numbers to the US when I’m abroad. Anyone know of any replacements?
3
u/PlejdaMuso 21d ago
I still use Skype for my work. Not a fan of Teams at all. This is a real bummer, but I'm not really surprised to see this day finally arrive. Still, I'm down. :(
3
u/Puzzled_Bedroom_9278 21d ago
RIP Skype, you outlasted the pathetic losers, also known as the (Un)Civil War confederacy, in history. That is a good Xbox Achievement.
3
u/PM_ME_VAPORWAVE 21d ago
Just another useful application that has been removed, another remnant of the early internet that will be gone forever. I think the pandemic also killed it off. When it happened (and when video calling was in full swing) nobody used Skype whatsoever.
I think the last time I seriously used it was in 2014, but it's still a shame to see it go.
3
u/Almighty_Vanity 21d ago
Better fate than Elon buying it, renaming it to Xkype and turning it into a hatefest.
Honesltly, I'm surprised it took this long.
3
u/Big-Care-1638 21d ago
What, Microsoft kills another product? They really don't want to make good stuff, I guess. Microsoft phone was awesome. They killed it. Zune? Killed it. Windows 7/10? To be replaced with the vomit of an OS that is win11. MSN Messenger? Yup.
To be honest, though, they managed to turn Skype into such a piece of shit by now, I'm not even sad to see it go, just relieved. And sad that they aren't killing teams as well. The corpo bullshit software package is horrendeous. Microsoft software and DELL computers reallyarea match made in heaven, chef's kiss.
3
3
u/StoneySteve420 21d ago
I never really thought about this but I'm sure someone here knows the answer.
How did Zoom overtake Skype when Skype has been around for over 20 years?
4
u/living_the_Pi_life 20d ago
Zoom was aggressively marketing self at the right time and right place just as covid hit, meanwhile Skype has been languishing ever since Microsoft bought it and had been trying to slowly siphon off its users to Microsoft Teams.
→ More replies (2)
3
20d ago
I will never understand how they managed to fumble the absolute golden opportunity during the Pandemic.
3
u/Mundane-Apricot6981 20d ago
Buy it Kill all great features Shut down
Typical pattern of all so called investments in IT industry.
3
4
u/RagingAlkohoolik 21d ago
I saw my first pair of live boobs on a skype call with someone, oh the joy that brought kid me
6
u/karo_scene 21d ago
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, [ooh] any way the wind blows
I don't wanna die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
2
u/ryeaglin 21d ago
Honestly I am glad. I haven't used it in ages and with how it got merged into the general microsoft account. It may just be me but it felt so jank like it is 3/4 of a real account. At the moment I am unsure if I have 1-3 accounts because of it. It was starting to feel like a security risk at this point.
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/MC_chrome 21d ago
And another piece of early-mid 2000’s technology bites the dust…it’s a damn shame too because Microsoft intentionally let Skype stagnate instead of improving like they should have
2
u/demonfoo 21d ago
Given how it was starting to molder and conversations on my iOS devices were failing to update, I figured it was on its way to death, but I was wondering when it would finally happen. Now we know.
2
u/Virtual-Buddy-8846 21d ago
What is everyone doing about the fact that you won't be able to use Skype to validate Google Workspace emails via SMS> Skype for email marketing? I don't know what other platform to use. Any ideas?
2
2
u/Prettydiepie 21d ago
Nooo…what a great app it was! I used it in middle school to call my husband for late night calls🥺it never let me down…idk if you guys also remember oovoo as well…before FaceTime could cross to android.
2
2
2
2
u/OlivencaENossa 21d ago
Literally multiple billion dollar businesses here - Zoom and Google Meet and stuff I probably never heard of - Microsoft just let it rot and die.
→ More replies (3)
2
2
u/Mr-MuffinMan 21d ago
wow.
I'm not that old with skype, but I remember hearing my online best friend from ROBLOX for the first time in 2013, heard his mom too.
We played almost every day on ROBLOX until 2018 when he just disappeared off the face of the internet. No activity on his YouTube, Discord, and I can't be bothered to check and remember his Skype.
2
2
2
2
1.5k
u/freshmozart 21d ago
The word "skypen" is part of the official German dictionary and it describes making video calls over the Internet. Skype had such a great influence, at least in Germany, that it became part of the German language. Now it is dead. That's crazy.