RIP Skype. The audio and video communicator used by a generation is about to retire, as Microsoft announced it will phase out Skype in favor of its Microsoft Teams platform. As reported by The Verge, Skype users will be able to log in to Teams and have all their message history, group chats, and contacts synced automatically.
”Skype users will be in control; they’ll have the choice,” says Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, in an interview with The Verge. “They can migrate their conversation history and their contacts out and move on if they want, or they can migrate to Teams.”
That said, users have around two months to decide whether they want to migrate to Microsoft Teams, save their history, or move to a new platform. If the user chooses not to move to Teams, Microsoft created a tool to let them quickly export their data.
Skype will go offline on May 5. Prior to that, all the functionalities will still work. After that, users will have to move to a new audio and video platform. “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,” says Amit Fulay, vice president of product at Microsoft, to The Verge.
The publication heard from Microsoft that one big part of Skype won’t be available with Teams: the ability to make local and international phone calls. This feature will be phased out as people communicate differently nowadays, and VoIP is now a reality at a more affordable price.
In addition, The Verge says Microsoft will honor Skype credits. Even though they won’t be able to use them for calls, “existing Skype subscription users will be able to use their Skype credits and subscriptions inside Microsoft Teams until the end of their next renewal period.” Skype Numbers also need to be ported to another provider.
RIP, Skype. Long live to Microsoft Teams.
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