Microsoft is killing off Skype after years of decline

Andyross · 2025-02-28T15:37:12+00:00

Microsoft is planning to shut down the once-dominant video calling application, Skype. The app was highly popular among internet users in the early 2000s but has suffered persistent neglect from Microsoft in recent years as the company shifted its focus to Teams as its primary messaging and team collaboration platform. https://www.techspot.com/news/106966-microsoft-planning-shut-down-skype-may-amid-shrinking.html When I started working from home back in the dark ages of 2005, used pre-MS Skype (on Win2K!) for mainly text and voice messaging. Never used it for video. Was still using it until I was laid off in 2016.

real_aurgathor

thephantom Thanks for the info. I"m trying to avoid tying things to my phone, at least for now.

That might be difficult to do. Skype started as a desktop app and predated smart phones, so it does not need to be tied to a phone number. However, most (all?) communication programs nowadays are tied to smart phones, but they usually offer a desktop client.

If you can find one that is not tied to a phone, then I’d like to hear about it,

thephantom

real_aurgathor If you can find one that is not tied to a phone, then I’d like to hear about it,

I tried Jami; it did not ask for a phone number, just my emial.

The problem is, I get the same echo/feedback when I talk on that as I do with Discord! Damn! I don’t know what to try next. Skype works with no echo, I can’t find out why neither Discord nor Jami produce the echo. If anyone has any ideas, I’m open…

ugly95

thephantom Anyone use either Pumble or Jami?

I use Jami for audio calls. On my end, it seems to work well. Seems about as reliable as a Skype was. I’m on an Andoid device. You have to keep it running in the background all the time, if I remember, there was a setting to do so.

The person I talk to is on an iPhone, and they have some issues. From what I can tell (I don’t have an iPhone to test), there are issues on the iPhone with keeping it running in the background. So, when I try to call (from Android phone to iPhone), the call doesn’t go through. When the other person calls (from iPhone to Android) it works fine. I think it’s a known issue with how the iPhone works and handles background apps.

They also have an issue with the iPhone version of the app, where they hit mute, and it somehow gets stuck in a mute-unmute cycle.

tl;dr - on Android Jami has been good, but the iPhone app seems buggy.

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