Skype is dead. Introducing: CoPilot Calls

Seriously though, Skype is a good example of how MS butchers products. I mean, I never loved Skype but it worked and was the defacto video calling platform of the masses. If they had their shit together, even a little bit, then Zoom would never have taken the market. I don't really like zoom either, but its better than Skype.

Ah, the Google approach.

It's the other way around. Lync, formerly Office Communicator, became Skype for Business which became Teams, not to be confused with Teams, a distinct, non-interoperable product made by the same company. Skype for Business probably took some code from Skype but I'd bet it was mostly about branding and it never had that much in common with the real Skype.

Microsoft killed Skype in 2017 and replaced it with a different thing also called Skype.

hardly surprising. we talk about enshittification today but Skype was one of the most egregious offenders before the term was even coined, in late-stage Skype (circa 2016-2017) i couldn't even run the fucking thing without lag because of in-line ads. the user experience was frankly awful, and once you've used something like Discord or Zoom there's just never any reason to go back.

Excellent stewardship, Microsoft.

/s

I only used Skype for one thing: cheap calls from Canada to international landlines with no time limit and without having to pay a monthly subscription. Can anyone recommend a good alternative? A lot of the options out there look a bit scammy.

Can skype credit be used in teams?

I didn't even know it was still around. I stopped using it when microsoft bought it.

Skype was a beast at tunnelling through proxy blocking then acting as a proxy itself for other Skype endpoints that were not as successful.

Haven't used Skype since 2005

Looking back over my long and occasionally successful life, I must admit that I do have a few regrets here and there. One is that for a couple of years, I was a Skype user. Oh well, at least I stayed away from Teams.

Has anyone told the Skype CEO?

I am not sure why but one day every international Skype user I know switched to Viber. I wonder what impact Viber had on Skype.

Thank the gods I’ll never have to listen to their algorithmic sound butchering ever again.