Exclusive: Microsoft is finally shutting down Skype in May
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One of the things skype did first and best was decent noise filtering, transforming peoples shit audio equipment to something you could listen to for more than 5 minutes without going crazy.
For sure, Skype/eBay did a lot right at first. But by the time MS bought it, it was already falling from favor.
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That sucks. This is my main way of video-calling my family overseas. It's also gonna suck for people who use it for 2fa for US accounts (though I think most don't work with Skype and known voip numbers anymore so maybe not a huge deal).
It also sucks for those of us who need to call US numbers from overseas. I need to call a tax prep company and would rather not pay a fortune. Google also cracked down on those proven to be fully overseas with a voice number.
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I’ve been using Skype for cheaper international calls to family that still relies on phones instead of video calls etc. I’ll need to check what happens with my credit. Any recommendations for an alternative?
Google Voice is good. I use it to call from the USA to Australia which is only $0.01/minute.
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I'm still sad they got rid of MSN Messenger in favour of Skype. MSN had superior video and audio quality.
I had so many international friends on MSN Messenger that I have no idea how to contact any more.
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Teams has a lot of Skype references under the hood…
Well yeah “shutting down” here is more like “absorbed” into teams. They don’t make “enough” money from consumers to keep it going, but they do from their teams subscriptions. The tech is and will further be ported to teams and the branding changed.
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Skype was always shit. It was being first to market that made it popular. It was one of the first ways to get cheaper and free informational calling. By the time MS purchased it vent and ts became popular as well as zoom and others entering the space.
I agree with you here. They just never kept up with what people wanted or needed out of a communications platform. When Discord showed it was more versatile nearly 10 years ago, my whole group switched and never looked back.
Skype call sounds still bring specific kinds of nostalgia though.
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I’ve been using Skype for cheaper international calls to family that still relies on phones instead of video calls etc. I’ll need to check what happens with my credit. Any recommendations for an alternative?
I made a comment about this on another thread, see this comment.
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I’ve been using Skype for cheaper international calls to family that still relies on phones instead of video calls etc. I’ll need to check what happens with my credit. Any recommendations for an alternative?
I'm not a fan of Meta, but all of my international family rely heavily on WhatsApp.
It also seems that Signal supports VoIP calling, but I have not tried it.
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I’ve been using Skype for cheaper international calls to family that still relies on phones instead of video calls etc. I’ll need to check what happens with my credit. Any recommendations for an alternative?
I only have to use this occasionally, but on my android I use the app "Talkatone" to make free calls to phones. They have paid plans to keep your number, but I tend to just use new ones whenever one expires.
It might not suit your needs, but it's worked pretty reliably for me for the past 10 years or so.
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Immigration Canada: "Prove to us that your marriage is genuine. Prove that it wasn't for immigration purposes."
My wife and I: "You sure you want that?"
Immigration Canada: "Make with the proof."
My wife and I: 400 pages, front and back, of Skype call logs/timestamps. A fucking literal ream of paper
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I agree with you here. They just never kept up with what people wanted or needed out of a communications platform. When Discord showed it was more versatile nearly 10 years ago, my whole group switched and never looked back.
Skype call sounds still bring specific kinds of nostalgia though.
They treated it as an extension of the telephone is how I always thought about it.
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Skype was always shit. It was being first to market that made it popular. It was one of the first ways to get cheaper and free informational calling. By the time MS purchased it vent and ts became popular as well as zoom and others entering the space.
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Immigration Canada: "Prove to us that your marriage is genuine. Prove that it wasn't for immigration purposes."
My wife and I: "You sure you want that?"
Immigration Canada: "Make with the proof."
My wife and I: 400 pages, front and back, of Skype call logs/timestamps. A fucking literal ream of paper
I think they just wanted you to perform a verification fuck
I would
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I'm not a fan of Meta, but all of my international family rely heavily on WhatsApp.
It also seems that Signal supports VoIP calling, but I have not tried it.
Well, I have family that is old enough not to manage to use WhatsApp. They have a smartphone. WhatsApp is set up. I can never reach them on it.
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They treated it as an extension of the telephone is how I always thought about it.
Good point, they never really got past that, huh
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I’ve been using Skype for cheaper international calls to family that still relies on phones instead of video calls etc. I’ll need to check what happens with my credit. Any recommendations for an alternative?
Wire has calling voice and video calling.
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I’ve been using Skype for cheaper international calls to family that still relies on phones instead of video calls etc. I’ll need to check what happens with my credit. Any recommendations for an alternative?
It's a little contentious, but Discord is a solid video chat app. It's good for hop in/hop out for multiple users and you can have a dedicated family chat room on the server too.
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Mumble existed then, and still exists now. Vent was literally never clean, it was always bloated and behind.
(sorry, I'm very passionate about the Vent vs. Ts vs. Mumble debacle of the early aughts)
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Well, I have family that is old enough not to manage to use WhatsApp. They have a smartphone. WhatsApp is set up. I can never reach them on it.
But they use Skype?
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But they use Skype?
No, but Skype allows to make calls to landlines (and mobile phones).
