The tech world is mourning a big loss today: A true pioneer in video chatting, SKYPE died yesterday at age 22.
We knew it was coming, so it wasn't really a shock. Microsoft announced it a month ago and started moving users over to their more modern Microsoft Teams platform. If you go to Skype.com, it now prompts you to "Start using Teams."
Skype was founded in early 2003, and the first beta version came out later that year. Microsoft eventually jumped in and bought it for $8.5 BILLION in 2011.
It had around 150 million monthly users at that point. But then Zoom caught on during the pandemic, and it dropped to just over 20 million users.
Skype's underlying software wasn't really designed for mobile, so Microsoft decided to euthanize it as an effort to "streamline" their services. If you want to save your contacts or old Skype data, you have until the end of the year to export it. After that, it's gone for good.
So, R.I.P. Skype, and thank you. You helped us connect . . . when you weren't freezing up mid-sentence.
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