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.