Stuff

We remember when Skype first hit the world. It must have been the middle 2000s, we were early adopters and it was amazing.

At first, the features were basic, but developed over the years.

You could do free Skype-to-Skype messaging, phone calls and video calls. Group calling became possible, file transfer and sharing.

You could pay money, or a subscription, and that gave you extra features. You could call a regular phone (eg from the UK to the USA) and it cost only pennies per minute, even at peak times, rather than pounds, because the majority of the call was over the Skype system and was free.

Also, you could buy numbers in different countries. So, suppose you are a UK business but you have a lot of customers in Chicago USA, then you could buy a Chicago phone number and access it through Skype. For those customers, it’s a local call and looks like a local business. Plus, of course, you could have many numbers around the world.

Call and video quality was variable, but could be excellent. I remember video chatting to a friend every evening for years. She would share her day and I mine.

Microsoft bought it up in 2011. It has gone downhill and become a bit of a joke.

In recent years, rivals have come along, though we don’t know any that offer all the features it did (if you know, tell us). Skype has been left behind in many ways, and Microsoft have now announced it is to close from May.

We like Viber. Microsoft want you to use Teams. There are other systems and you can make your choice.

If you use Skype, or know people who do, then be aware that its days are numbered.