【Netherlands】

Pour one out for the blue "S." After more than two decades,Netherlands Skype — the once-ubiquitous video-calling app that defined early internet communication — is officially being retired.

As of May 5, Microsoft is shutting down Skype, signaling the end of an era for the service that, in the mid-2000s, was practically synonymous with video calls. Launched in 2003 and scooped up by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion, Skype was once a juggernaut, peaking at more than 300 million active users in the early 2010s.

But in the years since, Skype’s relevance slowly eroded. Messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram chipped away at its user base. Then came Zoom’s pandemic-fueled rise, and Microsoft’s own collaboration tool, Teams, which gradually cannibalized Skype’s core functionality.

Microsoft confirmed the shutdown in February, announcing Teams as the new default for users seeking video calls and messaging. The Skype homepage now reads like a digital gravestone, redirecting visitors to "start using Teams." Paid users can transition to Teams for free, and the company says you’ve got until January 2026 to export your data.

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Skype isn’t the first iconic tech product to fade into obsolescence — and it won’t be the last. But for a generation that grew up saying "Skype me," it’s a bittersweet goodbye.

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