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Microsoft is killing Skype

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271–280 of 682 posts

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#271

Post by wyclif »

mschuster91 wrote: post #77
caseyy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked for a European company acquired by big tech in the US. My experience was that the Americans were quite full of themselves and didn't want to learn how we operated. There was a vibe of “things are going to change around here, no more free rides, the grown-ups have arrived.” Awful management decisions were made, most of the talent left, and the team from the original company now only exists on paper. n=1 an…

> I've worked for a European company acquired by big tech in the US. My experience was that the Americans were quite full of themselves and didn't want to learn how we operated. Yup, that's also my experience. Americans are just like the unofficial President - they don't take "no" for an answer when they demand something, no matter what, unless you manage to get court judgements because that actually threatens the bo…

>unofficial President

That sure is a funny way to refer to a president who was elected by both the popular vote and the Electoral College. I'm no fan of Trump, but it sounds like a form of derangement syndrome to believe that he wasn't democratically elected.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#272

Post by akgoel »

bloomingkales wrote: post #258

What happened? It's kind of hard to fuck up a chat app. The Skype ring tone is iconic.

It was a p2p phone and video call app that Microsoft purchased when mobile phones started to take off. Phones cannot participate in a p2p network the same way a desktop can, so it had to be re-architected to use central servers, and they never got it to work the same after that.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#273

Post by magamig »

klausa wrote: post #252

>Microsoft will honor existing Skype credits, but it will no longer offer new customers access to paid Skype features that allow you to make or receive international and domestic calls. This sucks for me; I used Skype for this regularly for dealing with paperwork/banks/etc back in my home country. What do people use instead? I know there's probably a bajillion of fly-by-night operations that offer this, but given tha…

I've started using Viber, but it's full of ads and more expensive

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#275

Post by skeeter2020 »

grandpoobah wrote: post #266
bloomingkales wrote: post #258

What happened? It's kind of hard to fuck up a chat app. The Skype ring tone is iconic.

Don't forget MSN Messenger was discontinued/merged into Skype. So they fucked it not once, but twice. Literally handed over their dominant position in instant messaging for nothing.

Wait - what about MS Lync/Office Communicator? I don't remember if that was just a branding change of "MSN Messenger for Business" about the time right before the Skype acquisition, or folding in (and failing with) yet another IM/Video chat solution. So should the count actually be three?

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#276

Post by basisword »

caseyy wrote: post #38

When Microsoft acquired Skype (the company), it was clear they would kill it. Skype had previously been bought by eBay, for which it served the purpose of entering a new market. Then, it was bought by some investment funds, for which it served the purpose of making money. However, to Microsoft, which already had its Windows/Live messenger (which copied Skype’s homework anyway), Skype served no purpose except to remov…

Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger) was another massive fumble by Microsoft. It was absolutely essential as a teenager in the 00's and people spent insane amounts of time on it. If MS put out a 'dumb' phone with Live Messenger they might have stood a chance when smart phones came around.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#277

Post by Someone »

legitster wrote: post #270

Skype is the epitome of technical debt. Millions of lines of code for a service that isn't technically difficult to provide anymore. When I was at Microsoft, I was told working on Skype was about as popular as being sent to a gulag. The value of the brand is so strong, I am surprised they never launched a "2.0" version built from scratch and without all the vestigial tails.

“Skype for Business” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_for_Business) sort-of was that. It put the “Skype” brand on “Lync”, which was a rebranded “Office Communicator” (IIRC, there were some technical changes along the line, too, but I may misremember that)

It got replaced by Teams.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#279

Post by Insanity »

Long time coming. The only one in my social group who still used it was my wife - and just for the function to call regular phones. Calling family in the US/MX from EU was pretty cheap with the Skype credit option.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#280

Post by VyseofArcadia »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #275
grandpoobah wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget MSN Messenger was discontinued/merged into Skype. So they fucked it not once, but twice. Literally handed over their dominant position in instant messaging for nothing.

Wait - what about MS Lync/Office Communicator? I don't remember if that was just a branding change of "MSN Messenger for Business" about the time right before the Skype acquisition, or folding in (and failing with) yet another IM/Video chat solution. So should the count actually be three?

That's Teams. MS Lync was rebranded as "Skype for Business" which was then rebranded as Teams.
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