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Microsoft is killing Skype

windowscentral.com

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Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#21

Post by pjmlp »

a_bonobo wrote: post #4

It's amazing how much they dropped the ball during Covid. They already had everyone and everything in place! But the app is a buggy mess, far worse than Teams, and they just refused to do anything about it. I guess MS-internal politics? They had their own Teams and that was the preferred product?

If it was only Skype, Windows development has turned into a mess, it appears teams are filled with newly grads, without any background on Windows development, or Windows developer culture.

That is why there are now Webview2 usage all over the place, and after 5 years WinUI 3.0 is still behind the WinForms, WPF and even MFC development experience, even though it should have been a plain port of UWP/WinUI 2.0 into standard Win32 infrastructure, so adding almost another 10 years on top (WinRT platform came out in 2012).

EDIT: it was actually 2012, not 2014.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#22

Post by rhubarbtree »

ratg13 wrote: post #17
notTooFarGone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The codebase is reportedly the biggest mess and impossible to navigate. In that light is just crystal clear why you would want to reinvent the wheel.

They’ve rebuilt popular software many times over in the past. Even with Skype they rebuilt the entire backend as well when they moved it from a decentralized platform to a centralized platform. I struggle to believe that this theory holds any water. It also lends support to an old conspiracy theory that the primary driver for Microsoft buying Skype was so that the service could be centralized so that communications c…

> They’ve rebuilt popular software many times over in the past.

Ironically, I think this list includes Teams.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#23

Post by isaacremuant »

MS was always going to kill Skype once they purchased it. One way or another.

I remember how it ceased working on Linux once they bought it but I'm not sure whether it had to do with moving to centralised servers or if it had been moved from P2P long before.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#24

Post by boznz »

ratg13 wrote: post #17
notTooFarGone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The codebase is reportedly the biggest mess and impossible to navigate. In that light is just crystal clear why you would want to reinvent the wheel.

They’ve rebuilt popular software many times over in the past. Even with Skype they rebuilt the entire backend as well when they moved it from a decentralized platform to a centralized platform. I struggle to believe that this theory holds any water. It also lends support to an old conspiracy theory that the primary driver for Microsoft buying Skype was so that the service could be centralized so that communications c…

they had to rebuild it, original Skype was written in delphi

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#26

Post by tomhoward »

I just deleted it from my phone, yesterday. I haven't actively used it in I don't know how many years; maybe briefly last year when traveling o/s and needing to make a landline call to a number back home, but other than that, pretty much no use for years, and lately all I've been getting was crypto spam group chats.

I remember how amazing it seemed when I was doing the "digital nomad" thing in the mid-late 00s, using Skype to redirect my landline number from home to my mobile (some Nokia thing, whatever was the best one for 20-somethings in 2006) with a local SIM as I caught buses around Thailand and Vietnam. It seemed so futuristic and exciting to be able to break free of the constraints of being stuck in one place - to travel around exotic places but still be connected to your work and contacts at home.

That said, most of the calls I received on that trip were telemarketing nuisance calls, so, as always, the reality didn't quite live up to the fantasy. Still, looking back it feels like it was a more optimistic and wondrous time.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#27

Post by dijit »

rhubarbtree wrote: post #22
ratg13 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ve rebuilt popular software many times over in the past. Even with Skype they rebuilt the entire backend as well when they moved it from a decentralized platform to a centralized platform. I struggle to believe that this theory holds any water. It also lends support to an old conspiracy theory that the primary driver for Microsoft buying Skype was so that the service could be centralized so that communications c…

> They’ve rebuilt popular software many times over in the past. Ironically, I think this list includes Teams.

The calling functionality of Teams seems to be based on skype.

(if strings, binary layout and even some subprocess names are to be believed)

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#28

Post by shermantanktop »

mc3301 wrote: post #6

The verb "to skype" means "to video chat with someone" to many many people, in the same way "to google" means to look something up online. I don't even use skype, yet I say "I skyped my grandma on Sunday" and similar, using any number of other apps. It'll be a hard habit to break.

I suggest continuing to use it. Your language habits are not the property of marketers and product managers.

Now someday nobody will recognize the name and your meaning will no longer be clear. But until then Skype away, and use bandaids and Kleenex while you do it.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#29

Post by dijit »

End of an era, but the writing was on the wall.

I have fond memories of using skype to contact my friends and family circa-2011 when I was working for Nokia in Finland.

Ironically, microsoft killed nokia the same way microsoft killed skype, an acquisition and then strangulation.

if nothing else, it’s at least two times the european tech sector was actively harmed by US tech giants… which isn’t much, but weird that it happened twice.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#30

Post by klohto »

dijit wrote: post #29

End of an era, but the writing was on the wall. I have fond memories of using skype to contact my friends and family circa-2011 when I was working for Nokia in Finland. Ironically, microsoft killed nokia the same way microsoft killed skype, an acquisition and then strangulation. if nothing else, it’s at least two times the european tech sector was actively harmed by US tech giants… which isn’t much, but weird that it…

> actively harmed by US tech giants

Both Nokia and Skype went under due to usual European leadership stagnation and comfort before getting bought. Thankfully both sales funneled enough funds into EU to bootstrap a startup culture here.

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