The Weird Downfall of Skype

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Published 2024-03-28
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So, whatever happened to that Skype program? Since its creation in 2003, it quickly became the top video chatting service in the entire world. Its easy-to-use and creative user-interface and convenient tools even allowed it to be ingrained into contemporary pop-culture. It became a plot-device in movies and even became its own verb, much like how the world “google” is used today. “I’m gonna go skype my friend.” Skype was everywhere and you could not avoid it. Until one day, it kind of just disappeared, pretty much overnight, and alternatives just took over. But the weird thing is that…none of us really cared? When Skype moved on, so did we. No one has really looked back, despite Skype providing things that, I think, are now missing within the online space. And this is where I would typically ask “So, what exactly happened to Skype?” but its situation is part of a very interesting and unique phenomenon.

Was Skype the one that changed, or was it us? And how did it ever get to that point?

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All Comments (21)
  • @Ali_zhangHAO
    that skype ringtone intro unlocked memories i didn't know i had
  • @ChatookaMusic
    Its so easy to forget how long all of my online friend groups lived on skype because its like one day we all just flipped over to discord and never looked back
  • @TheEDFLegacy
    I miss the old Skype. Microsoft killed it. Discord replaced it. Here's to hoping Discord doesn't get bought out.
  • "Microsoft was trying to solve a problem that didn't exist" Just about sums up Microsoft's record post Windows 7. Discord, as heck of a bug riddled mess with a tone deaf developer team as it is, things would've gone far south for the worst if Microsoft did buy them out as they wanted to a few years prior.
  • @kennyslg8914
    Damn, hearing that ringtone instantly took me back to the days of Skype lol
  • The moment Skype died for me was when they switched to some bizarre Snapchat-style interface on mobile way back in 2017. They took a perfectly functional program and pissed off its users with features nobody asked for and bloat nobody needed.
  • @MikeFozz
    I still can't believe how badly they integrated Skype with MSN Messenger, losing contacts, not being able to add people for no apparent reason, I'd probably still use it for messaging today if they had rolled that out well.
  • @muddled2566
    Going to be wild when we see the video on the downfall of Discord, they seem to be headed down a similar path as Skype. Too many weird features no one was asking for, total redesign of their mobile app resulting in a buggy experience, dropped calls/reduced streaming quality, random MTX cash grabs, increased rate of unexplained bans. A lot of the changes being made feel like Discord is just very out of touch with it's userbase lately.
  • @forgetbeams
    my memories of skype are so distinct. when i was around 11, my best friend from school moved away to another state. when we discovered we could skype each other it was exciting to call her at night on my dad’s computer. when i finally got my own laptop at 15, i had big group calls with my internet friends and took so many screenshots of these crazy themed matching profile pictures/display names we’d come up with. i remember being devastated when windows 8 launched the new skype, it truly marked the end. i scoured some threads that detailed how to re-install the old version, and you bet i did that right away — but still, it was like everyone stopped using it over night. there was a short lull in time where i didn’t have any voice or videos calls at all until discord came around.
  • @thesidneychan
    At this rate, this Halloween, NationSquid will do a jumpscare and go "were you SQUARED? Need a safe SPACE?"
  • @avamnepohui7260
    You missed one important detail - at the same time that Microsoft began to turn the once small and fast program into an bloted, slow and buggy, smartphones began to gain popularity. It’s a good idea to use a device that is always in your pocket to communicate with other people rather than a computer. Skype for Android was as bad as it could be. It was literally the worst app you could ever install on a smartphone. And of course, people started using other, new applications, simply because they were much better. As a result, people began installing these new applications (Whatsapp, Viber) on their computers, finally abandoning Skype.
  • @Momiku
    I always hated Skype and how they killed MSN Messenger to force us to use it. My friends and I moved on to TeamSpeak and Curse, and later to Discord. Skype was our last resource when the others weren't working lol
  • @Damgoeh
    Around 2005 in France, it was the opposite: we used the friendly looking MSN Messenger, and Skype was the cold enterprise app that nobody was using.
  • @UnknownMaster21
    I also noticed Discord is going under same issues what Skype had, but I am positive Discord's lifespan is simply longer... Discord is adding too much stuff. And too much offers which doesn't even work properly.
  • 0:34 "Club Penguin isn't around anymore?" Today, 7 years ago, it got shutdown is it a coincidence that you decided to upload it today just to say that line?
  • @andtails
    Skype was my go-to chat program in the 2000s and early 2010s for communicating with friends. Skype's quality nosedive coupled with the introduction of Discord led me and my friend group to jump ship in favor of the latter. Meanwhile, while Skype for Business was okay, Teams was far better in most respects for workplace needs, especially in remote environments. As much as I am nostalgic for Skype, we have better alternatives nowadays.
  • Shiiiit, hearing the Skype ringtone brings me back to 2014-2016 whenever my older sister would video chat with my mom
  • @MGlBlaze
    I remember how Skype became shittier and shittier before Discord started to gain traction. Baked-in adds, removal of features, making the user interface look like a phone screen for a desktop application that made everything uglier and wasted space and it just became generally less and less pleasant to use. Once the wider world learned of Discord, we happily jumped off Skype's sinking ship without a thought and never looked back. And it kind of parallels how I moved on from MSN Messenger to Skype originally because MSN felt like it itself was being made worse with every new update.
  • @ActionGamerAaron
    The fact you're dancing around the fact that it was Microsoft that killed the app is really frustrating. I don't see how anyone could be convinced the answer is that much more complicated when the truth is so obvious especially to those of us that were actively using the app at the time.