Feed: Slashdot
Feed Link: https://slashdot.org/
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Title: Microsoft Shuts Down Skype

Link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/05/05/1938237/m...

Microsoft officially shuttered Skype on May 5, ending the pioneering video
chat service's 22-year run. The closure, announced in February, completes
Skype's absorption into Microsoft Teams, the company's Slack competitor.
Users opening Skype apps will now be redirected to Teams. The only surviving
component is the Skype Dial Pad, which remains available within Microsoft
Teams Free for subscribers to make calls to traditional phone numbers. The
once-dominant video calling platform was purchased by Microsoft for $8.5
billion in 2011, replacing the company's Windows Live Messenger. Created in
2003 by developers behind Kazaa file-sharing software, Skype became
synonymous with video calling during broadband internet's expansion. Skype's
decline accelerated after Microsoft's acquisition, with unpopular redesigns
and competition from Zoom, which captured market share during the COVID-19
pandemic. Microsoft began phasing out Skype in 2017, starting with Skype for
Business, while bundling Teams with Office applications until regulatory
intervention forced their separation.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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