Skype is dead. Long live Skype.
Microsoft, which has been Skype’s parent company since 2011, announced in a company blog post that the 22-year-old video calling app will enter its eternal rest on May 5. From that point on, Microsoft’s only official video calling software will be Microsoft Teams. Microsoft is offering a service that will let Skype users log into Teams with their Skype accounts, which should automatically migrate their existing chats from one app to the other. Users can also export all of their Skype data to have for themselves, if they choose.
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Younger readers may not remember this, but once upon a time, the word “Skype” was synonymous with video calls, much in the same way “FaceTime” and “Zoom” are today. Founded in 2003, Skype became one of the top video calling apps for years, as it repeatedly became acquired and later sold by various companies until landing with Microsoft in 2011. Since then, the prevalence of FaceTime and Zoom made Skype feel like a thing of the past, even as the software continued to exist and be supported until now.
Skype users have until early May to sort out their affairs. Everyone remember to pour one for a real one this weekend.
