Skype shutting down? Report says Microsoft to permanently retire Skype in May, ending its 22-year run

The videoconferencing platforms was one of the first of its kind. But what will happen to its existing users?

Microsoft is planning to permanently shut down its videoconferencing platform Skype, which was one of the first of its kind in the world. According to a report in XDA, Microsoft's preview for the latest Skype for Windows has a message to that effect.

The planned retirement of Skype was verified by XDA. (Pixabay)

As verified by XDA, a message inside the latest preview says, “Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available.”

The message seen in Microsoft's preview for the latest Skype for Windows (XDA)

This will mark an end to a 22-year-long run of Skype, which was initially launched in 2003 before being acquired by Microsoft in 2011.

Over the years, Microsoft did continue to take off some functionalities of the platform. This included the removal of the Windows Live Messenger. In 2015, however, Microsoft tried integrating Skype into Windows 10, which lasted all of nine months.

Skype saw competition internally, with Microsoft launching Teams in 2017. Teams was designed to compete with platforms like Slack, which are used as official channels for internal communication by multiple companies.

Since years, there have been speculations regarding when Skype will be retired.

Teams to replace Skype

According to the message in the preview, the users who are still using Skype will be prompted to shift to Teams. The message read, “Continue your calls and chats in Teams.”

This is followed by a note which informs the user that a certain number “of your friends have already moved to Teams free”. This message will reportedly be based on the contacts that have been integrated with Windows.

It is likely that users will begin seeing this message on their Skype apps soon.

Hindustan Times has reached out to Microsoft and will update the copy if it receives a comment.