Skype was a relic of happier times

Sometimes epics end with a whimper not a bang. This is the case for Skype, whose demise Microsoft has announced – for those paying only the closest attention – in a preview of the latest Skype for Windows update. ‘Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams,’ the message reads bluntly, with a slightly sinister follow-on that asserts that a number ‘of your friends have already moved to Teams free’. RIP.

Skype, launched in 2003, defined an era of new internet possibilities, with the explosion of social media a couple years later through Facebook, and the slow migration of internet usage from desktop screens to phones. Its jaunty but haunting dial tune became synonymous with newfound connectivity – both hopeful and desolate, associated as much with frustrating and failing wifi as the promise of speaking to, and seeing, a loved one thousands of miles away.

Skype days were happier days, despite much worse internet connections

The symbols and sounds of Skype became iconic: the word ‘Skype’ itself became the standard word to signify all video calls, even on a different platform. But