In a move that could have been seen coming from at least a decade away, Microsoft has confirmed that the Skype service will be shutting down on May 5. This comes after an intrepid person stumbled over a curious string in the latest Skype for Windows preview. This string seemed intended to notify the user about the impending shutdown, telling them to migrate to Teams instead.
Skype was originally created in 2003 by a group of European developers, where it saw some success, with the service being acquired by Microsoft in 2011. Much like other messaging services, each Skype user has a unique ID, but there is also integration with phone services around the world. When Microsoft overhauled the user interface in 2017, this caused a split between ‘classic’ UI fans and the heretics who liked the new interface.
With Microsoft not really finding a way to stop the bleeding of users by this time, and with its nascent Teams service enjoying success despite any complaints anyone might have about it, it seems that now the time has come where Skype will be put out to pasture. For the handful of Skype users still left today, the options are to either download your data before it’s erased, or to move your user account to Teams.
The original Skype was technically very interesting. I remember it was developed in Delphi and contained multi-layer protection (crypting of the binary code) of the original protocol which was really hard to detect or reverse-engineer.
Those guys knew what was their asset for sure back in the days..
I remember some research article about reverse engineering the Skype client, and they found when they disabled the anti-debugging and anti-reverse engineering hacks the client worked faster and more stable.
I stayed away from Skype for years, because of the Kazaa background of the creators and how much malware was bundled with Kazaa.
I remember Delphi 7! True classic! ❤️
Well, here we are. With ICQ another childhood/teenage memory will dissappear forever.
Nah, there are alternative servers to use.
But yes, the official things frlm back then are gone sadly.
Skype could have owned the IM ecosystem today. Not only did Microsoft not innovate on Skype, but it’s like they intentionally let it rot.
Yeah, and teams is a bloated monster which still lacks one of the key features of Skype and ICQ and all these messengers, a small unobtrusive contact list. Teams sure is a vast improvement in some respects but in terms of UI, it’s a catastrophically messy nightmare and still very much single window, kind of ironic for a company that grew with an OS called Windows.
I’ve heard that the Teams back-end grew out of the Skype back-end. If accurate, then Microsoft let the Skype brand rot, while pivoting the code to a new brand.
…which aligns with plenty of other poor branding decisions by Microsoft.
last time i checked — which was fairly recently, within the last few months — the internal identifiers used for Teams channels (chatrooms) still had the string “skype” in them. so yes, they embraced and extinguished that technology, as they tend to do with everything they purchase.
Sort of?
The “business” IM product that is now Teams started as Office Communicator, went through at least two major revisions before getting rebadged into Skype for Business (SfB)(which was absolutely incompatible with Skype) and then got re-rebadged into the abomination known as Teams, along with turning into into a cloud-only service.
Getting a SfB on-premise installation to work with other SfB instances was… difficult and a real challenge, to say the very least.
But at least the clients for those were not terribad, unlike the Teams Client, which is an absolute trainwreck of an app that runs like a pig even on good hardware.
Not the first product M$ bought and killed on purpose. The list is quite long …
One thinks that Embrace, Extend, Extinguish is just one of the many anti-MS memes, until it happens for real.
Skype still runs on premise for some companies. Microsoft will support until end 2025.
Good example of how microsoft bought & kill a competitor, now offering no other choice than buy 0365 to use a visio solution….
It was a good run. I got my skype number and subscription in 2007. $69/yr for the number and unlimited domestic minutes incoming and outgoing.
Looks like its time for Google Voice/Meet. I didnt switch when duo added video capabilities because Im attached to my skype number and you can only port cell numbers over. So I guess Ill be porting the skype number to a cell phone, then port it over to google.
I’m in a similar boat. Thanks for sharing a path out of Skype. I worked at Microsoft during the time they were merging their video conferencing product with Skype (and when they were wasting billions buying Nokia and then destroying it). I quit soon after that and am still quite pleased that I did.
Hm. It’s no surprise, but the shut-off should have been communicated sooner.
It’s not very professional to tell the clients/customers/users just shortly before shut-off. 6 months (half a years) to 1,5 years in advance would be fair.
So that the affected people can find their own alternative
– and no, not just assume them to pick the intended replacement from same company.
Alas, it seems like US tech giants are nolonger reliable here.
Or maybe they never were, whatsoever.
“and no, not just assume them to pick the intended replacement from same company”
Perhaps you are too young to remember what they did to the millions of users of Visual Studio classic.
I remember the petition for VB6 and how ignorant Microsoft was.
That was a different Microsoft, also, under different leadership.
VB6 wasn’t switched off suddenly, also, it was being too crucial.
Development simply ended, with patches being released from time to time.
The core runtime, msvbvm60.dll, is still in Windows 11.
Speaking of, the WINE people are also ignorant, I think, because they refuse to try to provide a free substitute for msvbvm60.dll, while they simultanously provide various Visual C++ runtimes.
They seemingly don’t acknowledge that VB6 runtime is a true core Windows DLL since the 90s and point the finger on WineTricks instead.
What makes me a bit sad these days is that those foreign IT companies seemingly have no sense for responsibility.
They act careless and don’t think about the consequences to others.
While they can do that, of course, it hurts their reputation.
In moments like this I’m sad that projects like LiMux haven’t caught on.
It’s really time to phase out MS software and big US software in general, maybe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux
Because with big power comes big responsibility and the latter is apparently something they’re not up to.
Who knows what they do if their Fuehrer gives them orders to drop support for a given country or company.
If , say, MS Teams would suddenly stop working, communication in international companies would be put on hold.
It’s really time to think over relationships with big tech giants and look for alternatives where the plug can’t be pulled so easily.
“When Microsoft overhauled the user interface in 2017, this”
… started the inevitable enshittification.
TFTFY.
How hard would it be to make a VoIP gateway for old landline calls inside Whatsapp or Signal? the UI could be commands like /call +324891234. Or just fork Signal to add extensions.
I’m dumb when it comes to this VoIP stuff so hear me out. I’ve used skype since back when you could actually have a Skype phone. When it suddenly quit working, I had to pitch it since it and well as many thousands of others when it became e-waste overnight. I hated it that MSoft acquired it and case in point with this announcement. The only reason I use Skype is my elderly in-laws are in Australia and they can call me in Nebraska using a local Australian number. Now I have no idea what I’m going to do. I read where someone in the comments mentioned porting the number to a cell phone and then to google. If anyone reading this can point me to a good tutorial on this, I’d be eternally grateful. Smart phones are out of the question as they have one landline, no computer, no internet, and no smart phone. It has to be as simple and reliable as possible and I’m stymied as to how to replicate this feature of Skype anywhere else.
Google Voice only allows porting of US based numbers so the work around I posted wouldnt work for your austrailian local number. Your best bet would be to establish a new austrailian number with a different VOIP provider.
I took a few minutes and looked at a few sites, so I cant attest to the company nor their service quality, but australianphone.com.au seems like a good place to start. Youd probably be better off getting a new aussie phone number with them than going through the hassle of trying to port your old number since it sounds like youre just using it for family calls anyway. They have a $4AU(~$2.5US)/mo standard plan that comes with an aussie local number, Theres a per minute charge for mobile calls, and a per message charge for SMS but it sounds like that wouldnt be an issue since your inlaws use a landline.
Again, Ive never used them, but if I was in your boat, I think Id give them a go. Good luck!
PS if you use their call forwarding to a US number youre on the hook for 1,3 AU¢/min.
Also, when you setup the account it defaults to $20/mo topup. If you arent going to be forwarding calls, using SMS or receiving mobile calls change that to $0.
PSS Sorry if Im spamming you with info but since you said you need clear instructions to understand how to handle all of this, and Im not loving their website, so I found this link for you It explains that to make calls with their service you use a Zoiper. Its available for Apple/Android/PC https://www.australianphone.com.au/support/setup-guides/250-zoiper-configuration
Hope this helps
I thank you for taking the time to let me know these options. It sounds more expensive either way as I’ve been doing this for 10 bucks a month since forever. While I’m over there I’m going to see what it costs to add international calling to their existing bill and if it’s cheaper, pay that.
“t sounds more expensive either way as I’ve been doing this for 10 bucks a month since forever. ”
“They have a $4AU(~$2.5US)/mo standard plan that comes with an aussie local number”
$2.50<$10
If they do not call you from a mobile phone,
If they do not send you SMS messages,
if you do not forward to a US phone number but instead answer their calls with the Zoiper app on either your home computer or cell phone
and if you remember to change the “top off” (meant to add money to account monthly to cover forwarding SMS and mobile calls)
You will be paying ~$2.50 USD billed as $4AU
Im afraid you got lost in my words and just added every dollar sign together. This option will be around 1/4 the price you say youve been paying skype.
Good Luck!
This is the only reason why I have a Facebook account, to have video calls with my daughter. I’m in the US, she’s in Japan, pretty good quality on the video call. No additional costs/fees over regular cell phone internet service.
Forsure, but my in laws have literally nothing but a phone. Not interested in anything else.
I love Teams, the nice white window it presents is perfect for drawing with whiteboard markers on the screen. /s Do I get my remaining Skype Credit back?