The end of an era: after 22 years, Skype has finally come to an end

Microsoft has finally shut down Skype, the legendary communications platform that changed the way people communicate over the internet for more than two decades. The move marks the end of an era of Internet communication and opens the way for successors like Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft announced the closure of Skype as early as February 2025, with all users forced to switch to Microsoft Teams, which has become the company's main communications platform, from 5 May. Reasons for the closure include

product consolidation, outdated Skype infrastructure and changing user habits.

Microsoft offered users the option to transfer their contacts and conversation history to Teams to ease the transition. However, the move has sparked a wave of nostalgia and criticism, as Teams is considered by many to be less user-friendly and more business-oriented.

On Platform X, the news of Skype's demise has been met with mixed reactions. Many users reminisce about the "golden era" of Skype, when the platform dominated online communication and was an integral part of their personal and professional lives.

"Skype was my first way to make calls over the internet. It's like losing an old friend," writes one user. But others criticise Microsoft for replacing Skype with Teams, which they call "cumbersome" a "less intuitive".

For users who don't want to switch to Teams, there are alternatives like Zoom, Google Meet, WhatsApp or Signal that cover a variety of needs from personal communication to professional video calls. On the X platform, some users suggest reverting to legacy protocols or looking for open-source alternatives to avoid corporate platforms.

Skype was first launched in 2003 and quickly gained popularity with free internet calls and video calls, which were revolutionary at the time. The platform became synonymous with online communication, whether it was face-to-face conversations, business meetings or playing games with friends remotely. Skype overtook then competitors such as Yahoo Messenger and even contributed to the decline of MSN Messenger, which was considered a major milestone in 2013.

In 2011, Skype was purchased by Microsoft for $8.5 billion, which led to the integration of the platform into a broader portfolio of products. Although Skype remained popular, it gradually began to lose its relevance due to increasing competition from Zoom, WhatsApp, Discord and Microsoft Teams.

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