Video chat pioneer Skype is closed after 23 years

The Pioneer video calling site Skype will be closed on Monday after 23 years because other popular apps such as Microsoft teams and zoom have wiped the market share in recent years.

Skype users in Microsoft were only given 24 hours to save their contacts, which could then be automatically transferred to teams after registering with their Skype user name and their password.

Skypers can also save your data manually by going to “Your account” under “Settings” on Skype. With an input request, you can choose whether contacts, callers -id numbers or chat history should export.

Then click on “Send request” and “Next” and finally select “Download”.

Microsoft did not immediately answer the mail from the mail for comment.

While there are several comparable alternatives for those who mourn the sinking of Skype, from Microsoft teams and zoom to Google Meet and Webex marks the death of Skype the early day of computer webcams and video chats.

Best Skype alternatives

For Skype users, Microsoft teams Could be the simplest platform to switch to because it belongs to the same company. It offers functions similar to Skype, including individual and group calls as well as messaging and file release functions. In contrast to Skype, the teams were used in a business environment so that its calls can include up to 10,000 participants. The free version has a meeting limit of one hour. A subscription costs between $ 4 and 12.50 per month.

zoom is another popular option with the possibility to include up to 100 participants for video calls and chat functions. It contains useful tools for work and school discussions, such as notes, a whiteboard and a screen release. Users can record these meetings and download meeting transcripts. However, free meetings have cut off after 40 minutes. For the unlimited meeting time, users have to pay a subscription that costs between 13 and 18 US dollars.

Users may prioritize the convenience Google MeetWhat is free and linked directly to Google accounts and gives the user. Google Meet enables up to 100 participants per meeting and can record meetings and enable screen release. If a meeting has more than three participants, it will be cut off for free users after 60 minutes. For unlimited time, users have to pay a work area account that costs around 7 to 15 US dollars per month depending on the plan.

Webex is another similar platform that enables up to 100 participants per meeting and offers the opportunity to record meetings and share their screen. It has a time limit of 40 minutes for free users and paid plans costs between 12 and 22.50 per month.

Other popular messaging platforms such as LooselyPresent discord And signal Also offer video all -round functions, although they cannot cope with larger groups and were not designed with the formal business meetings.

Skype downfall

Skype was founded in Luxembourg in 2003 and was the first platform to offer free calls from computer-to-computer. Soon she updated after the start to add video ruff functions.

In 2005, Ebay bought it for 2.6 billion US dollars in a massive deal for the time. In the same year, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook was only worth $ 100 million.

But just two years later, Ebay took $ 1.4 billion on Skype and began to sell his participation in the video chat platform.

Microsoft bought the platform for $ 8.5 billion in 2011.

Skype recorded a short activity boost in March 2020 when quantated persons turned to the nostalgic video call site. About 40 million people made Skype calls every day – a jump of 70% compared to the month before.

But Microsoft's own teams and Zoom will soon overtake the popularity of Skype from Skype for video calls, especially at the workplace.

In February, Microsoft announced that it would close Skype on May 5 and advised users to transfer their data.