“We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of a much-loved friend who was cruelly taken from us at the tender age of 21 and cut down in the prime of life by an uncaring stepparent…”
I’m talking about Skype, possibly the most popular video messaging service when it was launched. Developed by Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, along with four Estonian developers, in 2003, it was soon snapped up by eBay, before being sold off to venture capitalists and a Canadian pension fund. Finally, in 20011, Skype passed into the hands of Microsoft for $8.5bn as a replacement for Windows Live Messenger.
Now Skype has been heartlessly euthanized by Microsoft. Over the years, Skype was responsible for a massive boost in long-distance communications. It ended the days of those anxious and horrendously expensive international phone calls on what were often poor-quality lines with unacceptable delays and more static than a nylon t-shirt in a thunderstorm.
Skype enabled us to see and hear our loved ones clearly no matter where they were. Skype was the glue that held together many a long-distance romance. Skype was the glue that kept us in touch with elderly parents living on the other side of the planet. Skype was often the first time a newborn baby would be shown to their grandparents far away. Skype was often there to put the seal on many an international business deal.
Since Skype came along there have been many competitors such as Facebook Messenger, Apple’s FaceTime, Meta’s WhatsApp and Viber. Although WhatsApp has achieved great success, especially with text messaging, few of these apps are as easy to use for video calls as Skype was. So why was it so cruelly taken from us?
The answer is Microsoft Teams. The software giant says it wants to “focus on Microsoft Teams” and to streamline its “free consumer communication offerings.” Although Teams was in development for a long time, it was tested in the heat of the pandemic and found wanting by many people who had to use it and who realized its shortcomings.
Despite gradual changes, Teams has all the elegance and usability of a drunk giraffe. It can be unwieldy to use and has an interface that looks as if it was designed by an accountant. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration but talk to anyone who uses Teams regularly and you won’t hear much love for the software and its layout. It’s just clunky and unpleasant to navigate.
I’ve tried over the years to love Microsoft Teams but it always seems to make my life more difficult. Whether it’s the way it routinely rejects my password or pretends I don’t have a subscription, it always seems to conspire against me. Every time I receive an invitation to join a Teams meeting, usually from a large corporation, my heart sinks. I never know if it will work and I seem to have to spend so much time trying to fiddle with device settings which are always so hard to find.
Until its shutdown, I was using Skype daily to chat with my older brother who lives 1o0 miles away. Whether he was working at his desk or out walking with his phone, it was easy to Skype him and chat for a few minutes or an hour. It was just so easy to use and felt like a comfortable old pair of house shoes. Teams doesn’t notify live incoming calls on my Mac mini is the same way as Skype did, no matter how much I delve into notifications.
In contrast, Zoom seems a little easier to use and usually seems to function without issues, although Zoom calls are limited unless you take out a subscription, whereas Skype never minded how long you wanted to talk. With Skype, it was just easy to call someone without the palaver of setting up meetings and schedules.
So why has the plug been pulled on Skype? No doubt Microsoft wants to breathe life into the corpse of Teams and, in the process, force more of us to take out a subscription for it to access its “advanced features,” wherever they may be hiding. Perhaps Microsoft hopes more people will take out a subscription for Office, or whatever it’s called this week. Maybe Skype was simply too much competition for Teams.
Whatever the real reason for Microsoft pulling the plug on Skype, it will be sadly missed by many of us. For as long as it was there, people refused to migrate to Teams. Microsoft had to give its users a giant nudge and save costs on running two platforms. And, to be fair, it was a largely a free service so we can’t complain. I think the decision will backfire because more people will shift from Skype to WhatsApp, which is easier to use than Teams. One thing is for sure, Microsoft Teams is unlikely to ever be as well-loved as Skype was. Rest In Peace, old friend.
