REDMOND (dpa-AFX) - Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) has confirmed its plan to shut down Skype, the widely used VOIP messaging platform, by this May.
According to a report by XDA Developers, the latest Skype for Windows preview includes a hidden message stating, 'Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams.' This suggests that Microsoft is urging users to transition to Teams, its newer collaboration platform.
Skype, which was first launched in 2003, was later acquired by Microsoft in 2011. Following the acquisition, Microsoft phased out some of its other messaging services, such as Windows Live Messenger.
The company later attempted to integrate Skype into Windows 10 in 2015, but those efforts were short-lived. Over the years, Microsoft experimented with different app versions, eventually returning to a Win32-based Skype application.
In 2017, Microsoft introduced Teams as a direct competitor to Slack, leveraging Skype's infrastructure to build a robust communication and collaboration tool. Since then, Microsoft has heavily promoted Teams, particularly for business and enterprise users.
Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, emphasized that Skype users will have control over their transition. 'They can migrate their conversation history and their contacts out and move on if they want, or they can migrate to Teams.' he told The Verge.
Skype users can decide whether to switch to Microsoft Teams or export their data till May 5. 'If they do want to come to Teams then the first-run is pretty instantaneous because we've already done the work on the backend to restore their contacts, message history, and call logs,' Amit Fulay, vice president of product at Microsoft, said to The Verge.
With Skype's impending shutdown, Microsoft is making a final move to shift its users toward the Teams platform, signaling the end of an era for one of the most popular messaging platforms of the digital age.
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