Skype was a proprietary instant messaging platform which was developed by Skype Technologies in 2003, acquired by eBay for $2.5 billion in 2005, divested, acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion in 2010 to succeed Messenger,¹⁾ and shut down in 2025 for Microsoft Teams.

It used to be a fairly populated client with peer-to-peer voice calls in the 2000s, but largely fell off after the Microsoft acquisition where it transformed into a bloated, unstable client in the 2010s. Obviously, this is why alternatives like Discord emerged and successfully drew users away. Near the end of its lifespan, Skype would be heavily advertised to businesses, but then Microsoft Teams came out in 2017.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, most companies and educational institutions have generally migrated away from Skype,²⁾ replacing it with Discord, Microsoft Teams, Slack, WhatsApp, or Zoom. It did get UI updates³⁾ and AI chatbots,⁴⁾⁵⁾ but the company was clearly focused on Microsoft Teams,⁶⁾ then it was decided that Skype would close on May 5, 2025⁷⁾ for Microsoft Teams.⁸⁾

I generally do not have fond memories of Skype, having used it from 2013 to 2016 until Discord replaced it, so here is a list of bad memories and complaints that I had with the client under Microsoft:

• Skype did not close whenever you closed it. The program would keep you logged in, allegedly to minimize server strain, and it was the only program doing this back then. People don't complain about this anymore since phones tether people to the internet now, but this was a real complaint.
• The servers would get knocked offline so often, I still have memories of that 'Skype Heartbeat' status page because that's how often the platform would get knocked offline.
• Skype would inject advertisements into the client, sometimes causing it to crash. It was also a security issue, as malvertising was prominent,⁹⁾¹⁰⁾ so editing your hosts file was recommended!
• Users could drop anyone from their contact list into a group chat, regardless of whether the user was willing to be added or not, and the group chat would vanish if you were removed.
• Every single file is downloaded by default, which meant that if you ended up in a group chat that was raided with 500 copies of the same image, Skype would attempt to download each and every file in the background until you figure out why your computer was running so slow with Skype open.
• The animated emojis were an eyesore, but it was enabled by default, so you kinda had to have them enabled if you wanted to see what hideous emojis that people were posting.
• Back in 2021, Microsoft attempted to buy Discord,¹¹⁾ for at least $10 billion.¹²⁾ People hated this idea so much¹³⁾ that Discord used it for their April Fools joke¹⁴⁾ before the deal was called off.

• The platform was planned to be named 'Skyper', short for 'Sky peer-to-peer', but they ended up going with 'Skype' instead since their ideal domain name for 'Skyper' was already taken.¹⁵⁾
  • On that note, the “skyper.com” domain was held by the German telecom provider 'e*Message', who sold a pager called the 'e*Skyper', while Skype's founders had the “skyper.net” domain.¹⁶⁾
• Skype leaked IP addresses for years.¹⁷⁾¹⁸⁾ They allegedly tried to 'fix' this in 2016,¹⁹⁾²⁰⁾ but the issues actually continued and it didn't fit Microsoft's definition of a 'security vulnerability'.²¹⁾
• If you had a Microsoft or Skype account, even if you signed up using a third-party email, it was actually possible to dox people's real names because of how 'Discoverability' was enabled by default.

• Skype - The front page of Skype.
  • @skype and @skypesupport on Twitter - Official accounts for Skype.
• Skype Status - The status page. Formerly called Skype Heartbeat.