It’s #TechTuesday again. And thanks to @DaleDaschner, here’s a reminder about that blue app people either forgot or love to hate… Skype.

Let me put some context behind Skype vs Zoom. THREAD:

(1/14) Skype was made by the two guys who also created Kazaa. Anyone listening to t.A.T.u and Nickelback in 2004 knows exactly what Kazaa is – yes, including me. It quickly became one of the pioneers of VoIP (Voice-over-Internet-Protocol), aka Internet calls. #TechTuesday

(2/14) Skype was not the first app to turn voice into data, but user experience (UX) is important. Skype was a packaged app that was relatively simple to use - and had a free tier that didn’t cut out key features. You could call a friend across the world for free #TechTuesday

(3/14) Skype got popular. So popular that the service started to deteriorate for some. Calls would cut or have delays. Basically, there was a diminishing return for some people – a problem that is easily solved if you throw money at the problem. Enter Microsoft #TerchTuesday

(4/14) A brand is more valuable than the sum of its parts - just ask @PatOnBrands. Skype was as ubiquitous with VoIP as Google was with online search. Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion, cash - largely due to the 600+ million accounts, but also for the brand. #TechTuesday

(5/14) At the time, Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype was the biggest cash acquisition in tech ever. Skype was in need of capital, and previous owners eBay were losing money from it. Had Microsoft not bought them, the competition (Cisco/Google) would have. But also… #TechTuesday

(6/14) …Skype faced serious infrastructure challenges. When Microsoft bought Skype, they also slowly moved it into Microsoft’s cloud stack, the same stack that is rivalled only by Amazon and Google. This makes Skype more stable and easier to scale, in theory. #TechTuesday

(7/14) But it also introduces new problems. See, when a tech conglomerate buys a start-up or competitor, they eventually bring it into the fold in terms of accounts. Microsoft isn’t alone in this act – think of Apple buying Siri or Google buying YouTube, both in 2010 #TechTuesday

(8/14) By making Skype a Microsoft product, it also became more secure - and with security comes a loss in ease-of-use, which is part of the User Experience I mentioned earlier. Think of all those policies that won’t let you use “iloveyou” or “143456” as a password. #TechTuesday

(9/14) So with Skype losing its edge and prompts for a Microsoft Account annoying many, there was room for competitors to thrive.

PS: This is still a baffling phenomenon because Google nudges you into having a Google Account at every opportunity, and people comply #TechTuesday

(10/14) Many competitors exist. Before 2020, Skype’s biggest competition was:

- Facebook (Messenger + WhatsApp)
- Google (Hangouts + Meet)
- Apple (FaceTime)
- Cisco (WebEx)
- Viber

and of course… Zoom.

2020 has definitely changed the numbers, however. #TechTuesday

(11/14) Microsoft regularly reports on its products, including how many people use Skype daily: 40+ million. Zoom do not report daily users, but they report around 300+ million monthly users. Microsoft also reports 300+ million monthly Skype users, excluding Teams. #TechTuesday

(12/14) With this understanding, one cannot conclude that Zoom is more popular than Skype, considering that Zoom’s shortcomings include its ineffectiveness as a standard chat application. Also, few people actually have a Zoom account, with most relying on invites. #TechTuesday

(13/13) While “zooming” has replaced “skyping” as a verb for video calls - and Zoom’s founder and CEO Eric Yuan is new 2020’s billionaire… It’s easy to conclude Skype is a dead app, but the truth is far from it. Consider, Skype has 2x more active users than FaceTime #TechTuesday

(14/14) Basically, Zoom is a lot easier to use for most people – made easier by allowing you to use it without an account. But for everyone using Skype as it’s meant to be used – running in the background ready to receive a call at any time – Zoom just won’t cut it. #TechTuesday

And that’s that.

As for me, My #Skype account is 15 years old and still going strong. No, I never forgot my password. That's a noob move