Did MS Ruin Skype?

[rodneyej]

What's your opinion about Skype? Did MS ruin Skype? Is Skype better than ever? Is Skype still popular? Would Skype be better today off if MS didn't acquire it?

 

[xandros9]

I can't say for sure but it certainly went from being the de facto voice and video calling solution to little more than an afterthought. All the yanking around and course (in)corrections the past couple years certainly didn't help.

 

[anon(50597)]

MS has a history of starting things that look really promising and then stopping continued support of them just as quickly. I’ve lost all confidence and interest in their products.

 

[fatclue_98]

MS has a history of starting things that look really promising and then stopping continued support of them just as quickly. I’ve lost all confidence and interest in their products.

Skype wasn't a Microsoft creation. They just bought the company and like so many before and after (Nokia), they bought it when it was on the way out. Can't blame Microsoft on this one, it was already a dead man walking.

 

[anon(50597)]

Skype wasn't a Microsoft creation. They just bought the company and like so many before and after (Nokia), they bought it when it was on the way out. Can't blame Microsoft on this one, it was already a dead man walking.

Didn’t know that!
Still, they are like the proverbial black cloud. I would never walk too close to a MS store or office in fear my head would fall off.

 

[fatclue_98]

Didn’t know that!
Still, they are like the proverbial black cloud. I would never walk too close to a MS store or office in fear my head would fall off.

Microsoft has a history of buying up companies rather than creating their own products. Example, the fustercluck known as Outlook for Android and iOS is not Microsoft's redheaded stepchild. They bought a company called Acomplii that had an EAS client. It's no wonder the app sucks and can't hold a candle to the OG. I love how people say that Microsoft develops apps for the competition that work better than their own. Ha! If they only knew.

Another example is the Surface Pen. It's nothing but a re-branded N-Trig pen from Israel. Ya, they bought that one too.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Another product, albeit highly successful, that was acquired by Microsoft is Visio. It was introduced in 1992, by Shapeware (which changed its name to Visio in 1995). Microsoft bought Visio in 2000. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visio

 

[Daniel Stevenson Sutton]

The move to trying to make it hip and fun was a mistake, we don't need another snap chat, tech like simultaneous translation is what it should build on, even the Cortana bot has potential.

 

[h4mm3r tyme]

The issues with Skype are a microcosm of the larger issues at MS. Two versions of the same app with neither really addressing the needs of its user. Skype needs a stable, feature complete app that is fully integrated throughout the MS eco system.

 

[fatclue_98]

The issues with Skype are a microcosm of the larger issues at MS. Two versions of the same app with neither really addressing the needs of its user. Skype needs a stable, feature complete app that is fully integrated throughout the MS eco system.

That's exactly what they're doing by dropping Highlights. Skype is stripping all the trimmings and going back to the video calling juggernaut it once was. Too late? Maybe, time will tell.

 

[cool8man]

If someone asks to do video chat or VoIP, my first thought is still Skype. I'm not familiar with any popular alternatives except Facetime which is Apple-only. Given that Apple devices are expensive and relatively unpopular compared to Android and Windows, Skype is still the defacto standard for video and voice chat.

 

[pjhenry1216]

I wouldn't say Skype is dead. However, it is in a precarious position. Personally, I find Skype is still fairly popular for 'professional' usage (business meetings, interviews, etc.). However, its declined greatly with just everyday social interaction. Part of it is that it was geared towards real-time communication. It's similar in concept to the asynchronous usage that Snapchat or Instagram have, but in practice they're entirely different in how you interact with the applications themselves. They tried to force a real-time video application into an asynchronous video messaging application and you can't just force one into the other like that. They should have spun off a separate application if they wanted that functionality.

 

[RHoudek2]

What's your opinion about Skype? Did MS ruin Skype? Is Skype better than ever? Is Skype still popular? Would Skype be better today off if MS didn't acquire it?

Yes, MS ruined Skype. All they needed to do was create a system, kinda like facetime, that allows MS users to easily hop into skype from a phonecall and back again. Skype was, and should be, a video platform that also did messages, not a message platfrom that also does video.

 

[RHoudek2]

If someone asks to do video chat or VoIP, my first thought is still Skype. I'm not familiar with any popular alternatives except Facetime which is Apple-only. Given that Apple devices are expensive and relatively unpopular compared to Android and Windows, Skype is still the defacto standard for video and voice chat.

It USED TO BE the defacto standard. Now most people i talk to about doing a video conference ask about 1. FaceTime, 2. Hangouts, 3. GoToMeeting

When I bring up Skype, which has been a dozen or two times over the past few years, I have not once had the person say: "oh yeah, i have that."

 

[Simon Jonny]

Microsoft not only ruined Skype, but they managed to do it by also ruining the Windows (Live) Messenger service at the same time.


When Microsoft killed off WLM service, they expected everyone to migrate over to Skype client that was broken, couldn't even send files and existing contact lists didn't migrate over properly for most people, and if you happened to have skype account already things just didn't work very well after that. The transition to Skype was a hurried mess to kill off the messenger service way before Skype was ready. The result was, almost everyone on my contact list for messenger just went over to Facebook and used messaging there and just dropped both WL' Messenger and Skype.
And that was pretty much it. Rip Microsoft's messenger service.

 

[Bobvfr]

I actually like Skype, I have a Skype number, a small subscription and the small sub that comes with Office 365.

I use the UWP version as it allows me to have effectively the same app in my phone as my Surface Pro 4. When I am at home and my SP4 is hooked up as a desktop I like that I can call a PC or a phone number from my desk, I give out the Skype number to people like take away shops so they don't send me texts as they think it is a landline. I also have it set up so people I call see my mobile number so they don't have to cope with two numbers.

But I do NOT use the SMS function, it's been an abomination.


But to the basic question of "Have MS ruined Skype", I think the answer falls somewhere in between, they probably left then alone for too long, when MS announced they would allow SMS to PC via the messaging app and where looking at calls going to the phone app on the PC, I think the Skype people panicked and insisted that Skype handle this, in principle it looked like a good idea but it ruined my contacts so many times, I gave up on it.


Yes the W8 versions were crap, but the W10 UWP version works and works well, just don't turn on the SMS function.

 

[Pairadyce]

The problem with Skype is that they are always trying to convince their users to use it while they have an existing competing product. Live Messenger, Lync (Skype for Business), Teams, and even the SMS Messaging from Windows 10 Mobile should all have just been Skype with a different flavor of license/configuration. I use skype when I travel only cause I still had W10M and my family uses iPhones.

 

[ioioos]

For me, MS killed skype last year. I had my entire family using it, plus lots of friends, be it iOS or Android users. But the update was a disaster. Everyone I know hated it. Within weeks, everyone was trying other options and WhatsApp now rules the roost for cross platform video calls in my circle.

Couple that with the death/dependency of Windows Phone, and the constant problems with outlook on Android (still no two way contact sync), I've found myself moving from a diehard MS ****** to someone actively looking for alternative better solutions. It won't be long before my only MS product will be a desktop PC for gaming.

 

[Hirox K]

If my memory serve me right, I think Dan said Skype still has 350m monthly active users.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

Skype wasn't a Microsoft creation. They just bought the company and like so many before and after (Nokia), they bought it when it was on the way out. Can't blame Microsoft on this one, it was already a dead man walking.

Skype was at its height of success with zero brands having that much resonance with voice and video chat users.
Microsoft simply bought it and absolutely destroyed it.