{"id":46914,"date":"2025-02-28T14:48:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T19:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=46914"},"modified":"2025-05-07T11:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:03:08","slug":"microsoft-shutting-down-skype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/28\/microsoft-shutting-down-skype\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Shutting Down Skype"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Warren<\/a> (9to5Mac<\/a>, Hacker News<\/a>, Slashdot<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Microsoft is shutting down Skype in May and replacing it with the free version of Microsoft Teams for consumers. Existing Skype users will be able to log in to the Microsoft Teams app and have their message history, group chats, and contacts all automatically available without having to create another account, or they can choose to export their data instead. Microsoft is also phasing out support for calling domestic or international numbers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From my perspective, that was the most useful part of Skype.<\/p>\n\n

Zac Bowden<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Skype first launched in 2003 and was a very popular VOIP messaging platform in its heyday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Dan Moren<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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But there was a time when Skype was a revolution: free, good sounding voice calls across the Internet. Not to mention the ability to make cheap actual phone calls internationally, in a day and age when that was usually ridiculously expensive.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Hartley Charlton<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion in what was then its largest-ever acquisition. At its peak, Skype had more than 300 million monthly active users and was synonymous with internet-based voice and video calling. The service steadily declined in relevance in recent years, with its active user base shrinking to approximately 36 million by 2023 as competitors such as Zoom, WhatsApp, and Microsoft’s own Teams platform gained traction.<\/p>

Teams has since grown to 320 million monthly users, far surpassing Skype’s remaining user base. The company’s decision to discontinue Skype is apparently part of a broader effort to prioritize artificial intelligence features within Teams.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Dare Obasanjo<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Skype was a victim of Microsoft’s focus on Windows to the detriment of every other platform and a culture of mismanaging acquisitions under Steve Ballmer.<\/p>\n

It was a great product in its heyday but that hasn’t been the case in over a decade.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Christina Warren<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The best part of Skype (RIP) was Ecamm’s Call Recorder plugin (also RIP) that was not only good for podcasting for YEARS but was a great way to record your phone calls if you used a Skype-out number. When I was a journalist, it was so useful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Om Malik<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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It makes me incredibly sad, but I am not surprised. The writing was on the wall. Skype has been dying a slow death for a long time. As far back as 2018, it was obvious what lay in store. At the time, I wrote about the great Skype vanishing.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Microsoft now talks about Teams being their focus, showing that even today they haven’t realized what made Skype a cultural, consumer force. Microsoft Teams is a terrible product — and I dread using it. In simplest terms, Teams is a perfect encapsulation of a bureaucratic, archaic, and outdated 50-year-old company that is trying to reinvent itself as an AI leader.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n