Microsoft kills Skype
Pioneering internet calling service Skype officially shut down on May 5, 2025, after nearly 22 years in operation, according to Microsoft. The company is shifting focus to promoting its Teams application instead.
The service was originally launched in August 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom, Janus Friis, and four other Estonian developers, offering users the ability to make free or low-cost voice and video calls over the internet. The program's name was derived from 'sky peer-to-peer' – how the developers described its functionality.
Rest in Peace @Skype You served us well back in the day. pic.twitter.com/yOv27MDMQk
It soon became a global phenomenon, allowing both Skype-to-Skype calls and calls to traditional landlines and mobile phones. At its peak, Skype had more than 300 million monthly users in the mid-2010s and was widely regarded as a pioneer in internet-based communication.
Skype wasn't just an app it was a lifeline for me, a bridge that brought distant worlds closer. Saying goodbye to it feels like letting go of a piece of my youth. These feelings are deeply real and meaningful. Those memories will stay with me forever.
Skype changed hands several times over the years before being acquired by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion. The company has since gradually shifted resources toward its Teams platform, which is now being positioned as its primary product for business and personal communications.
The rise of competing services such as Zoom, WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Google Meet ultimately contributed to Skype's declining popularity in recent years. In late February 2025, Microsoft announced that it would shut down Skype and urged users to transition to Teams, allowing them to keep their old contacts and chat history. The company said that the data will be available to transfer until January 2026, after which it will be permanently deleted.
Despite its decline, many users have shared tributes to Skype on social media, calling its shutting down 'the end of an era' and reminiscing on how it was one of the first programs they used to stay in touch with friends, loved ones, and colleagues.
'Fly high, frozen blue screen – you weren't perfect, but you were our first,' one user wrote on X.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
31-05-2025
- Russia Today
Microsoft subsidiary files for bankruptcy in Russia
One of Microsoft's Russian subsidiaries has announced plans to file for bankruptcy, according to a note published on the official Fedresurs registry on Friday. The US-based tech giant opted to exit the country shortly after the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. In March 2022, the corporation stopped selling its products and services in Russia, pausing other aspects of its business in the country to comply with sanctions introduced by the West against Moscow amid the Ukraine conflict. Since then, a wide range of Russian corporate giants - including Severstal, Uralkali, VTB, MegaFon, Gazprombank, and others - have filed lawsuits against the company's local subsidiary, Microsoft Rus. The total value of the suits related to breach of contractual obligations after the exit amounts to 341 million rubles (nearly $3.6 million), according to the Russian business daily RBK. Shortly after pulling the plug on operations in Russia, the company stopped renewing Microsoft 365 subscriptions—including Outlook, Teams, Office, OneDrive, and SharePoint services—for its corporate clients, disconnected a number of Russian organizations from cloud services such as Visio Online, Project Online, and Power BI, and introduced other restrictions. According to data tracked by RBK, the revenue of Microsoft's Russian subsidiary last year amounted to 161.6 million rubles (nearly $2 million), with net profit totaling 174.1 million rubles ($2.13 million). The data shows the company reported revenue of 6.9 billion rubles ($84.5 million) and a profit of 638.1 million rubles ($7.8 million) in 2021, which marked its last full year of operations in Russia before deciding to quit. Earlier this year, the multinational registered the trademark 'Microsoft Places' with the Russian patent office, Rospatent. According to the filing card, the company plans to provide or grant temporary access to 'downloadable computer software for managing hybrid planning, workplace management, office space management,' and other types of software until 2023. In recent months, foreign corporations—including McDonald's, Hyundai, Intel, LG, IKEA, Chanel, Rolex, and Louis Vuitton—that had previously exited Russia have begun registering new trademarks in the country, signaling their potential return. Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the creation of a program for foreign corporations willing to return to the Russian market, 'but only insofar as it aligns with the protection of our own business interests.' Speaking with business leaders in the Kremlin, the president emphasized that Moscow won't be 'rolling out a red carpet' for McDonald's and other companies.
Russia Today
23-05-2025
- Russia Today
‘Cyber UN' proposal gains momentum at Moscow tech summit
A proposal to establish a global 'Cyber United Nations' took center stage on Thursday at Positive Hack Days (PHDays Fest) in Moscow, as diplomats and cybersecurity leaders called for a new international framework to promote digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on Western technology giants. The initiative, introduced by cybersecurity professionals and echoed in diplomatic circles, aims to create shared standards for digital infrastructure and cyber defense. It reflects mounting concerns over widespread dependence on US-made software and draws parallels with the dominance of the US dollar in global financial systems. More than 40 countries from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia are participating in the three-day forum, one of Russia's largest gatherings focused on information security. Speaking on a panel about digital sovereignty, Mexican Ambassador to Russia Eduardo Villegas Mejias said that many countries, including Russia, continue to depend on Microsoft Windows, even amid sanctions. He questioned why alternatives like Linux are not more widely adopted and attributed it to language and infrastructure dependencies. Yury Maksimov, co-founder of the Cyberus Foundation, likened the global reliance on American technology to the widespread use of the greenback. 'Using American tech is convenient – just like the dollar. But the world has been shaken, and now civilization faces a choice,' he said. Maksimov was referring to Western sanctions imposed following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, which disconnected Russia from dollar-based financial systems and excluded major Russian banks from SWIFT. These measures sparked concerns about the politicization of financial infrastructure and spurred countries like China, Iran, and other BRICS members to develop alternative payment systems and promote the use of national currencies. Arguing for collective action, Maksimov proposed that instead of each country developing its own isolated systems, nations should collaborate on shared technological standards under a neutral global entity. 'How do we build a 'Cyber UN' capable of setting these rules?' he asked. Russia, which has already replaced much of its foreign tech stack, could play a key role in helping other nations avoid duplicative efforts and focus on high-impact innovation, he suggested.
Russia Today
22-05-2025
- Russia Today
US tech giant accused of silencing free speech
Microsoft is reportedly under fire from employees following claims that its internal email system blocks messages containing terms such as 'Gaza,' 'Palestine,' and 'Genocide.' The restrictions, reported by The Verge, have sparked accusations of censorship and discrimination, particularly amid mounting criticism of the company's ties to Israel. The claims come from No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA), a protest group of current and former Microsoft workers. The group says 'dozens of employees' have been unable to send emails internally or externally if these words appear in subject lines or message bodies. In contrast, words such as 'Israel' or alternate spellings like 'P4lestine' are reportedly not filtered. 'This is an attempt to silence worker free speech,' said NOAA organizer Hossam Nasr, who accused Microsoft's leadership of discriminating against Palestinian employees and their supporters. Microsoft confirmed that it had made email-related changes aimed at reducing internal political messaging. A company spokesperson said the measures were taken to limit mass political emails, noting that 'emailing large numbers of employees about non-work topics is not appropriate' and that such communication should go through opt-in forums. The controversy comes amid ongoing protests over Microsoft's cloud and AI contracts with Israel, which media reports say support military operations in Gaza. While the US company has acknowledged working with the Israeli government, it claimed in a May 16 statement that 'no evidence' has emerged showing its tools have been used to cause harm—though it also admitted it lacks visibility into how its software is deployed on private systems. The internal dissent has played out publicly in recent weeks. At the Microsoft Build developer conference, employee Joe Lopez interrupted CEO Satya Nadella's keynote speech, accusing the company of enabling war crimes. Lopez was later fired after sending a mass email to thousands of staff members calling for action.
