As recently reported by our John Durso, Microsoft is shutting down Skype in May 2025. I’ve always viewed Skype as being one of the marvels of technology and this most popular communications application will certainly be missed by a large percentage of users.
Microsoft acquired Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion but, in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Zoom, FaceTime, and WhatsApp, decided to concentrate the company’s efforts on promoting its new communications application called Microsoft Teams, which is more geared toward corporations and meetings.
Faced with Skype’s impending extinction I took a cursory look at Microsoft Teams as an alternative and, with my opinion admittedly perhaps tainted by familiarity, was totally underwhelmed.
Windows Live Mail vs Mail App
Microsoft has a habit of killing off popular applications and replacing same with underwhelming alternatives. A typical example is the once extremely popular Outlook Express email client, which subsequently became the equally popular Windows Live Mail. And when Microsoft stopped supporting Windows Live Mail it was replaced with the totally inadequate Mail app.
Outlook Express was indeed so popular that a developer duplicated its GUI with updated functionality and is selling the resulting OE Classic on a subscription basis. And Windows users end up with the awful Mail app with its seriously limited functionality.
In the not too distant past Microsoft has also deprecated Steps Recorder, WordPad, Media Center and DVD playback, system image backups and Taskbar functionality (in Windows 11). Plus, of course, Microsoft continues to deprecate one of Windows’ most useful legacy features, the Control Panel, in favor of the far less intuitive Settings app.
Does This Represent Progress?
I’m all for progress, especially as newer technology necessitates change, but I’m also reminded of the well-worn saying… “If it isn’t broken it doesn’t need fixing“. Not only were some of these popular deprecated applications and features not broken, but they are also being replaced with inferior alternatives, or not replaced at all.
BOTTOM LINE:
The lesson to be learned from Skype’s impending demise is that nothing in tech is guaranteed permanent. Not because features and/or applications are lacking in value or popularity but rather because the eggheads in charge decide they no longer fit the company’s vision.
As always, your thoughts are most welcome via the comments.
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That is why other than MS Office I had never used any apps Microsoft or Google, they get you used to using them and then they kill them then you have to scramble for replacements , both companies have a long history of doing this, killing apps or software that work perfectly fine but never really concentrating on fixing what is really wrong. I believe the same thing will happen with Office 365 after a while , other than the business sector that uses it as I am forced to use it at work I can’t really see how it is profitable for them , first , there are way too many free options that do the same if not more and second, most in the private sector really have no use for it and if they do they just use the installable version of Office (I do) which has everything 365 does, because I believe in having sensitive stuff like emails and spread sheets on my own system and not in the cloud, plus you don’t have to pay the BS subscription to it.
Never get comfortable with anything Microsoft or Google puts out because it probably won’t last, there is something to be said about using third party software. Anything that Microsoft or Google puts out , you can bet your bottom dollar someone will come out with an alternative option sooner or later that will be cheaper or free and will have more options and work better. One thing Microsoft is good for is starting something but never really bringing it across the finish line, Windows is proof positive of that.
Never get comfortable with anything Microsoft or Google puts out because it probably won’t last
Yep, couldn’t have said it better Ed.
Good post. But Microsoft typically buys out someone else’s product, tweaks it a tad and calls it their own. A common ploy by many of the big players.
BTW, Apple pulls the same crapola when it comes to “fixing” things that weren’t broken. I have an iPad and every so often an update changes how something works or where to find it in settings if still available.
I have issues with Linux too. I used to use Ubuntu, going way back to its early days and stopped using it back when it switched from Gnome/MATE to Unity. And while I understand the concept behind Snap, Flatpacks, etc., I don’t want them installed when I build a system.
I understand there are changes to be made to support new tech, but an effort should be made to maintain backward compatibility as much as possible. I started developing S/W 65 years ago and understood the nuances of trying to maintain backward compatibility, but these developers today must have an NIH complex.
I should have added Yahoo too. They just changed their e-mail setup. I could not find anyway to revert to the way it was a couple of days ago. One of the issues I have is they default automatically to a “Priority” e-mail and they determined which of your e-mails are “priority”. I want my “setting” to be “All” not “Priority”. When I select “All” sometimes it stays there and other times it will flip back to “Priority”. Again, someone with their head you know where that knows better than me how I want to handle my e-mail.
I did find the mechanism for turning off the new default. It was in the “Settings”, which had been moved and “hidden” in the “Folders” section. I suspect some Yahoo e-mail developer previously worked at Apple.
BTW, it would be nice to have an “edit” so one could go back and change a previous comment.
Hey Bob,
I agree with you on the iPad. Every time mine updates all the icons are rearranged. So frustrating.
it would be nice to have an “edit” so one could go back and change a previous comment.
Agreed. Our comments feature is pretty basic, not sure if that can be changed. I’ll make some enquiries through Dave.
It wouldn’t let me reply to the below post but I’d also like a way you can sign in comment wise and then when posting you have the option to tick to receive comments without having to get an email to approve each new post
Yep, and I’m still using Office 97! It does what I need it to do.
Yes, my family and I will certainly miss Skype mostly because it takes a long time to train old people to use technology.
And having trained them and had it working a treat and having great family ‘gatherings’ online, to loose it just like that, is like loosing a family member.
Because mine are now too old to retrain.
It will have to be back to writing emails.
Does anyone remember Picasa? It did ‘everything’ quite well and all in one place. Then of course it was sold and subsequently shut down. I tried to keep using it basically offline but in the end it failed to run and played havoc with my photos.
Such a pity because it was a great little program that gave me a good part-time income as well. It had many lesser used capacities that I used to manipulate photos in very interesting ways. Nothing to replace it with if I wanted everything in the one place. To get all those features back, I had to expand to several apps and it drove me crazy. And many features were gone for good as there was nothing remotely similar anywhere else.
Hey Clissa,
Does anyone remember Picasa?
Yep, sure do. Picasa was one of my favorite programs. Google also has a history of suddenly killing off products- Picasa, Google+, Google Hangouts, Google Reader- that’s just off the top of my head.
I do think Skype lost a big market share with the likes of WhatsApp and if Teams can do the same but more then I kind of see why they are doing this but it does get annoying when they remove apps and don’t always offer something with the same features.
One thing that annoys me is many apps don’t even offer the same features as the website. I have the Outlook android app. Try adding rules. You can’t even do it on the website via mobile, have to use a desktop which makes no sense considering many people don’t have desktops/laptops these days
Hey Peter,
The numbers say that Teams is a lot more popular than Skype, but I suspect that might be down to extensive corporate usage.
I had lots of problems with the security of What’s App. I actually left an organization when they tried to tell me it was ultimately secure, and I showed them a video from the Las Vegas Hackers convention that year where they BRAGGED about breaking into What’s App. Now I am sure that security was restored and then hacked and then restored ad nauseum but that is the way it goes. My point was that what they called Absolute wasn’t any such thing.
@Peter,
Not sure what you mean Peter. Only myself and our editor Richard Pedersen can “approve” new comments. When you receive an email notification of a new comment it is merely to let you know that a new comment has been posted.
How else could we let you know?
Hi what I meant is that each time you comment on a new post if you subscribe you have to then click a link in an email to finalise this.
I wondered if a login system would work better where everyone has an account and can just login. Kind of how with systems like Reddit you can click on a post and subscribe and then go back and unsubscribe without needing to approve each time
Oh, okay. So, you receive an email each time you subscribe requesting confirmation… is that correct?
I’m an admin so the system for me is a lot different. I’ll check this out with Richard and Dave because that sounds to me like it would be a nuisance.
I can’t promise anything Peter but I’ll definitely find out if we might be able to streamline all this.
Hi it’s for every new article. If I comment on an article and tick subscribe I have to open the email and accept it. However if I reply again to the same article it doesn’t require an email.
I was thinking if you had a login system this could be managed there. Also I notice you approve all comments which is obviously fine but if you ever found it took too long to do having a login system could help e.g. users with so many posts could be set to automatic posts (Obviously just a suggestion as it’s your site and don’t want this to seem like I’m telling you how to run it as I managed a forum years ago and know the annoyance of spam)
Hi Peter,
If you whitelist DCT cookies, I am sure these problems will go away.
Richard
Microsoft is also dumping “MS Publisher” in October 2025, along with Skype and INCREASING the price for Microsoft365 … worse behavior than those manufacturers of potato chips who now charge the same price but with fewer chips in each package. Looks like I’ll need to get used to using open source software like SIGIL.
Yes, I read about MS Publisher’s imminent demise. Good catch.
And I noticed that popsicle sticks are getting longer too. 🙂
These windows/ios issues convinced me to use the Thunderbird client probably 20 years ago. While they have enhanced, modified and updated the application over the years the basic functionality remain intact. I try to avoid the hardware/supplied operating system default applications wherever possible. Our family primarily uses Facetime for personal use since they are Apple users and I have a iPad, but most of my group (non-family) meetings are through ZOOM using my laptop. It’s interesting that many of my friends will call me to help with OS (Microsoft or IOS) application issues and I can’t help them because I don’t use them. My “office” go to is Libreoffice.
The beauty of this is when I upgraded my laptop both of these (and all my other) applications migrated flawlessly complete with settings and content intact.
“Viva the independants!”
I recently got an IObit Update recommendation for MS’s ZUNE; is that still around?