After more than 20 years the plug goes out: Microsoft will stop skype within a few months

According to research by XDA Developers, Microsoft has built in a code in the latest version of Skype for Windows that announces the end of the service. The hidden code reads as follows: “From May, Skype is no longer available. Keep calling and chatting through teams. ”

No further announcements are made, but the message is clear: Skype stops and users are asked to switch to teams, the communication and collaboration platform of Microsoft.

Skype was founded in 2003 by the Swedest IT entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and his Danish business partner Janus Friis, the two who were previously also responsible for peer-to-peer platform Kazaa. For a long time, Skype was one of the most popular video services, but in recent years that popularity had deteriorated considerably.

The move by Microsoft, which took over Skype for more than 8 billion euros in 2011, is therefore not surprising. Skype has been used much less for years, especially since 2019, when Microsoft teams and other competitive services such as WhatsApp, IMessage and Discord prevailed. Even during the Coronapandemie, Skype hardly received any attention as an alternative to platforms such as teams or hem.