As Skype shuts down, its legacy is end-to-end encryption for the masses

Skype, which gained worldwide fame as a technology originating from Estonia, had 150 million monthly users in its heyday, but last week its current owner, Microsoft, announced that it would shut down the application starting in May. However, Skype's legacy is bigger than just free internet and video calls.

Skype Cost Microsoft $9 Billion. It Was Money Well Spent.

By grafting Skype onto Windows, Microsoft protected its PC dominance.

As Skype shuts down, its legacy is end-to-end encryption for the masses

iMessage, Signal, and WhatsApp have made E2EE the default for messaging, but Skype paved the way decades ago.

Launched in 2003, the application purchased by Microsoft, making it possible to make phone calls or in video, will definitely disappear. Novelty at the time, it was notably overtaken by its competitors, including Teams.

Microsoft is shutting down Skype in May

Skype was first launched back in 2003, and Microsoft acquired it in 2011. A couple of years after that, it discontinued some of its in-house communication products like Windows Live Messenger, and then in 2015, the Redmond firm tried to integrate Skype into Windows 10. Of course, the Skype road was a bumpy one. That Windows 10 integration lasted about nine months. The company had added separate apps for video calling, messaging, and phone calls …

The Skype platform, launched in 2003, had revolutionized modern communication by making free calls via the Internet. It will disappear next May.