Skype was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, debit-based calls to landline and mobile telephones (over traditional telephone networks), and other features. It was available on various desktop, mobile, and video game console platforms.
Skype was created by Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, and four Estonian developers, and first released in August 2003. In September 2005, eBay acquired it for $2.6 billion.[2] In September 2009,[3] Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from eBay, valuing the business at $2.92 billion. In May 2011, Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion and used it to replace its own Windows Live Messenger. As of 2011, most of the development team and 44% of all the division's employees were in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.[4][5][6]
Skype originally featured a hybrid peer-to-peer and client–server system.[7] It became entirely powered by Microsoft-operated supernodes in May 2012;[8] in 2017, it changed from a peer-to-peer service to a centralized Azure-based service. In February 2023, it was used by 36 million people each day.[9]
The service was retired on 5 May 2025,[10][11][12] and the website now redirects users to Microsoft Teams; however, the Skype Dial Pad remains functional for users with paid services.[13][14]
Etymology
The name for the software was derived from the words "sky" and "peer-to-peer", the latter of which described the software's network architecture.[7] This was then abbreviated to "Skyper"; however, some of the domain names for Skyper were already taken.[15] By dropping the final "r", the title became "Skype", for which domain names were available at the time.[16]
History
Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström, from Sweden, and Janus Friis, from Denmark.[17] The software was created by Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, Jaan Tallinn, and Toivo Annus.[18] Friis and Annus are credited with the idea of reducing the cost of voice calls by using a P2P protocol like that of Kazaa.[19] An early alpha version was created and tested in spring 2003, and the first public beta version was released on 29 August 2003.[20][19]
In June 2005, Skype entered an agreement with Polish web portal Onet.pl for an integrated offering on the Polish market.
Security and privacy
Skype was claimed initially to be a secure communication, with one of its early web pages stating "highly secure with end-to-end encryption".[139] Security services were invisible to the user, and encryption could not be disabled. Skype claimed to use publicly documented, widely trusted encryption techniques for Skype-to-Skype communication: RSA for key negotiation and the Advanced Encryption Standard to encrypt conversations.[140] However, it is impossible to verify that these algorithms are used correctly, completely, and at all times, as there is no public review possible without a protocol specification or the program's source code. Skype provided an uncontrolled registration system for users with no proof of identity. Instead, users might choose a screen name that does not have to relate to their real-life identity in any way; a name chosen could also be an impersonation attempt, where the user claims to be someone else for fraudulent purposes. A third-party paper analyzing the security and methodology of Skype was presented at Black Hat Europe 2006. It analyzed Skype and found a number of security issues with the then-current security model.[141]
Skype incorporated some features that tended to hide its traffic, but it was not specifically designed to thwart
Localization
Skype came bundled with the following locales and languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
As the Windows desktop program offered users the option of creating new language files, at least 80 other (full or partial) localizations were also available for many languages.[188]
Customer service
In January 2010, Skype rescinded its policy of seizing funds in Skype accounts that have been inactive (no paid call) for 180 days. This was in settlement of a class-action lawsuit.[189] The company also paid up to US$4 to persons who opted into the action.
Skype provided support through their web support portal, support community, @skypesupport on Twitter, and Skype Facebook page. Direct contact via email and live chat was available through their web support portal. Chat Support was a premium feature available to Skype Premium and some other paid users.
Skype's refund policy stated that they would provide refunds in full if customers had used less than €1 of their Skype Credit. "Upon a duly submitted request, Skype will refund you on a pro-rata basis for the unused period of a Product."
Skype had come under some criticism from users for the inability to completely close accounts. Users not wanting to continue using Skype could make their account inactive by deleting all personal information, except for the username.[190]
Due to an outage on 21 September 2015 that affected several users in New Zealand, Australia, and other countries, Skype decided to compensate their customers with 20 minutes of free calls to over 60 landline and 8 mobile phone destinations.[191]
Educational use
Although Skype was a commercial product, it was reported in 2011 that its non-paid version was being used with increasing frequency among teachers, schools, and charities interested in global education projects.[192] A popular use case was to facilitate language learning through conversations that alternate between each participant's native language.[193][194][195][196]
The video conferencing aspect of the software had been praised for its ability to connect students who speak different languages, facilitate virtual field trips, and engage directly with experts.[197][198]
See also
- Caller ID spoofing
- Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
- Comparison of instant messaging protocols
- Comparison of VoIP software
- List of video telecommunication services and product brands
- Mobile VoIP
- Presence information
- Unified communications
External links
References
- Skype Microsoft Store^
- EBay to buy Skype in $2.6bn deal BBC News, 12 September 2005, retrieved 2 October 2014^
- Canada Pension plan buys Skype stake | Toronto Star Thestar, 2 September 2014, retrieved 21 August 2014^