Today is the end of Skype. It’s the end of a product that was pretty much free and worked great. So of course it’s ending. What happened?

Invented in 2003, Skype was meant to reduce the cost of phone calls by using computers. It worked. Really well. Then Ebay bought Skype in 2005 for a couple billion dollars and a boat load of cash. Not bad. You could still make phone calls and video chats galore without having to pay. The free version of Skype was pretty damn sweet.

Other bells and whistles were added along the way. You could even record the calls! Want to interview someone for a show? Skype! In 2019 it was in the top ten most downloaded apps of the decade! But trouble was brewing. Microsoft had purchased Skype along the way.

Then Covid and Lockdowns hit, and a little thing called Zoom fired up. This is where it gets weird. ‘Free’ Skype is losing ground to ‘pay to use’ Zoom.

WTF?! It still strikes me as bizarre. And now we’re supposed to embrace Microsoft teams? Riiiight. Not going to be lining up for that switch. I’m not feeling it. To the legions of people using facetime or what’s app, do you really need to see the person you’re talking to in the grocery store? Maybe it’s good thing that Skype is gone. I’m rethinking the whole need for video calls altogether.

And if, IF I want to see you during a call? It’s not for work. It’s for private reasons. And who do you trust with THAT data? No… for real… what’s the app for that? Is there a good one? I need a name.