There has been something of a trend for Microsoft to, sometime after acquiring some company with a social media platform, is to begin rolling out changes in updates to those websites and apps to slowly but steadily alter them to conform to Microsoft’s own tech systems. They have done that with WhatsApp and Instagram, and they have been doing it also with Skype, which Microsoft snapped up in 2013, nine years after it originally launched. They have fiddled with Skype redesigns in recent years and now, they are ready to compel users of the service on Windows 10 to change to the latest Skype version, before it is too late.
According to The Verge, Microsoft is giving warning to users who still have any version of the Skype desktop app numbered 7.0, also called “Skype Classic”, on their Windows 10 that the operating system will cut off all support for it starting on the first of November. And if users of the classic version on their phones and tablets, which do not run on a Windows OS, think themselves the exception, then they need to be advised that Microsoft will also discontinue support for mobile Skype 7.0 several days later.
“As we continue to focus on and improve Skype version 8, support for Skype versions 7, and below will end on November 1, 2018 on desktop devices and November 15, 2018 on mobile and tablet devices,” thundered Microsoft’s warning on the Skype updates blog. “Although you may be able to use older versions for a little while, we encourage you to update today to avoid any interruption.” The current Skype version 8 boasts some additional features that Microsoft describes as being among the “most requested” of its user base, such as recording Skype calls and searching through a recorded conversation.
Bidding farewell to Skype Classic in such a fashion comes across as the usual tactics from Microsoft, a complete 180 from their assurance last August that they will keep the version 7.0 option “for some time” after some users reacted negatively to the experience of Skype 8. In the beginning of September, there was also a significant tweak to mobile Skype to undo earlier changes that users felt made it a bit too much like Snapchat, such as the “Highlights” feature. After some token attempt to manage a “happy medium” of Classic and New, Microsoft is cutting out the old.
Granted it does not mean the Skype version 7.0 and below will no longer work after the November deadlines, but the Microsoft announcement made reference to possible interruptions of service, as their priority shifts more to Skype 8 until Skype Classic is eventually just disabled.
Image courtesy of Major Geeks
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