One of the main reasons is that Zoom allows you to create an open call that anyone can join, while Skype needs everyone to make an account and is really designed for calls with small numbers of people.
Mainly, Microsoft fucked it up and didn’t really know what to do with it. It was really slow and I think it had ads and shit in it when you wanted to use it. Then they had Teams, which integrated well with the rest of their systems for business use and Skype was just kind of … there too?
So, it wasn’t used for business and it was way clunkier than Zoom or WhatsApp for personal use. It just sort of got abandoned and lost in the shuffle.
Teams replaced Skype which replaced linq. Teams is much more functional tying into SPO much more seamlessly. It’s night and day more functional if you work in a Microsoft shop.
Skype was backed by Java. Microsoft didn’t have any Java expertise in house, not to mention active antipathy from some corners of the company (and with Oracle). Like many acquisitions of that era, it was basically lighting money on fire.
I worked for a company that did online tutoring circa 2016 and we used Skype for a while before switching to Zoom around 2018.
Skype was generally a bad experience — buggy, generally poor quality, and antiquated. Zoom was comparatively simple and easy to use, much easier to invite people into or use for groups (which made it better at scale for commercial use), and just generally a better product. This really is just a case where the better software beat out a dinosaur that was limping along under its own inertia and market share.
Skype and Skype Business weren’t even related programs. I believe Skype Business was just a rebadged component of Microsoft Office Groove so they weren’t even compatible with each other.
Skype never really got into the corporate environment. Before Zoom the options were GoToMeeting and WebEx and they both sucked total balls.
Every damn time I sat in a conference room waiting for someone to figure out how to make it go, I always thought somebody would make a damn fortune if they could make this shit JUST FUCKING WORK.
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Skype was already very much on the way out after being acquired by Microsoft, which deeply enshittified it.
Teams replaced Skype
One of the main reasons is that Zoom allows you to create an open call that anyone can join, while Skype needs everyone to make an account and is really designed for calls with small numbers of people.
discord replaced it
Mainly, Microsoft fucked it up and didn’t really know what to do with it. It was really slow and I think it had ads and shit in it when you wanted to use it. Then they had Teams, which integrated well with the rest of their systems for business use and Skype was just kind of … there too?
So, it wasn’t used for business and it was way clunkier than Zoom or WhatsApp for personal use. It just sort of got abandoned and lost in the shuffle.
Zoom is a far superior product than Skype was.
Teams replaced Skype which replaced linq. Teams is much more functional tying into SPO much more seamlessly. It’s night and day more functional if you work in a Microsoft shop.
Have you ever used Skype? It’s been a piece of shit for decades.
[removed]
Collegehumor skit about the Skype/Zoom situation.
https://youtu.be/ZI0w_pwZY3E?si=bPdJj3vhPVnFvNzP
Skype was backed by Java. Microsoft didn’t have any Java expertise in house, not to mention active antipathy from some corners of the company (and with Oracle). Like many acquisitions of that era, it was basically lighting money on fire.
…wtf? I’m still using Ventrillo…
Hang on, I gotta go flip my record, and take an Anacin for my back pain.
I worked for a company that did online tutoring circa 2016 and we used Skype for a while before switching to Zoom around 2018.
Skype was generally a bad experience — buggy, generally poor quality, and antiquated. Zoom was comparatively simple and easy to use, much easier to invite people into or use for groups (which made it better at scale for commercial use), and just generally a better product. This really is just a case where the better software beat out a dinosaur that was limping along under its own inertia and market share.
Skype and Skype Business weren’t even related programs. I believe Skype Business was just a rebadged component of Microsoft Office Groove so they weren’t even compatible with each other.
no account required for zoom was one big reason, especially during COVID when everyone was pushed to use something, it sort of just became the default
Noone got the real reason, zoom was practically free for a year during the pandemic, so everyone adopted it for the savings.
Microsoft decided to dye it purple and make it absolute shit
Skype never really got into the corporate environment. Before Zoom the options were GoToMeeting and WebEx and they both sucked total balls.
Every damn time I sat in a conference room waiting for someone to figure out how to make it go, I always thought somebody would make a damn fortune if they could make this shit JUST FUCKING WORK.
Then Zoom did it.
Bring back MSN.