Skype Shuts Down After 22 Years, Ending an Era of Internet Calling

Microsoft's Skype has yet unopen down, concluding its 22-year tenure arsenic the once-dominant net calling and messaging service.


Microsoft acquired Skype successful 2011 for $8.5 cardinal successful what was past its largest-ever acquisition. At its peak, Skype had much than 300 cardinal monthly progressive users and was synonymous with internet-based dependable and video calling. For many, Skype was their archetypal acquisition of speaking to idiosyncratic halfway crossed the satellite for free, a extremist displacement from the dominance of telcos and costly long-distance calls.

The work steadily declined successful relevance successful caller years, with its progressive idiosyncratic basal shrinking to astir 36 cardinal by 2023 arsenic competitors specified arsenic Zoom, WhatsApp, and Microsoft's ain Teams level gained traction.

Teams has since grown to 320 cardinal monthly users, acold surpassing Skype's remaining idiosyncratic base. The company's determination to discontinue Skype is seemingly portion of a broader effort to prioritize artificial quality features wrong Teams. Employees who worked connected Skype volition beryllium reassigned to different projects alternatively than being laid off.

Skype played a cardinal relation successful popularizing VoIP (Voice implicit Internet Protocol) technology, enabling businesses and individuals to link astir the satellite with minimal costs. It besides served arsenic an aboriginal testbed for AI-powered real-time connection translation, a diagnostic Microsoft showcased successful a wide publicized objection successful 2014. However, its predominant UI changes, reliability issues, ill-conceived societal media-like features, gradual displacement toward enterprise, and inability to support gait with newer competitors, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet led to its obsolescence.

Existing Skype users had until May 5 to migrate their information and contacts to Teams oregon question alternate solutions. Skype's bequest lives connected successful the VoIP exertion it helped to normalize—but arsenic a product, it stands arsenic a lawsuit survey successful however marque designation unsocial can't prevention a stagnant platform.
This article, "Skype Shuts Down After 22 Years, Ending an Era of Internet Calling" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

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