Users who are still on Skype can now migrate to Microsoft Teams (which is free) and use their Skype credentials, with your contact and chat history automatically transferring to Teams.
You will have until January of next year to export your data from the Skype servers. If you don’t do that until the deadline, your data on the platform will be permanently deleted.
Officially, Microsoft said the reason for sending Skype to the software graveyard is to streamline the company’s free consumer communications offerings. This way, the tech giant will be able to adapt more easily to what customers need.
Unfortunately, though, the free version of Microsoft Teams has a few downgrades in comparison to the regular Skype. For one, group calls are limited to 60 minutes. Additionally, you can’t use Teams for pay-as-you-go calling and SMS like you could do with Skype Credit. Over the last two decades, Skype has proven itself one of the most influential voice-over-IP (VoIP) platforms.
Skype was founded all the way back in 2003 by a group of Estonian engineers. The platform used VoIP protocol, a tech that converts audio into a digital signal to transmit online. In 2005, eBay bought Skype and added video calling features.
In 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion. Back then, Skype had about 170 million users globally. In 2017, Microsoft Teams entered the game. During 2020, when many people needed to work from home, Skype and other platforms for online communication gained quite the popularity.
Now, Skype has come to an end. If you wish to migrate to Microsoft Teams, you can get the app from Microsoft Teams’ page.
Other alternatives to Skype (although your chats and contacts won’t be migrated) include Google Meet, Zoom, and Slack.
