REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is closing down Skype, the video-calling service it bought for $8.5 billion in 2011.
The tech giant said Friday it will retire Skype in May and shift some of its services to Microsoft Teams, its flagship videoconferencing platform. Skype users will be able to use their existing accounts to log into Teams.
Microsoft has for years prioritized Teams over Skype and the decision to fold the brand is part of a broader shift in how people communicate online.
Founded in 2003 by a group of engineers in Tallinn, Estonia, Skype was a pioneer in making telephone calls using the internet instead of landlines. It added video calls after online retailer eBay bought the service in 2005.
By 2011, when Microsoft bought it from eBay, Skype had about 170 million users worldwide, then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in an event announcing the planned merger.
“The Skype brand has become a verb, nearly synonymous with video and voice communications,” Ballmer said.
Skype was still considered high-tech in 2017 when recently inaugurated President Donald Trump’s administration used it to field questions from journalists far from the White House press briefing room.
Hackers accessed Xfinity customers’ personal information by exploiting a vulnerability in software used by the company, the Comcast-owned telecommunications business announced this week.
The White House is lending its support to an auto industry effort to standardize Tesla’s electric vehicle charging plugs for all EVs in the United States.
A group representing several big tech companies is suing Utah over state laws about children's social media use.
A new study published in the journal Behavior and Information Technology reveals less time on social media makes people happier and more efficient at work.
Google has agreed to pay $700 million to settle an anti-trust settlement.
Apple announced that starting this week, it will stop selling some versions of the Apple watch in the U.S.
The European Union is investigating Elon Musk's X over alleged illicit content and disinformation on its platform. Cheddar News breaks it all down and discusses what it could mean for users.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Meta says it will start testing a program that would allow posts from Threads to appear on other social media sites.
Several healthcare companies are reportedly joining President Biden's artificial intelligence risk management plan.
