It's the end of an era. Skype, the video calling platform that revolutionized online communication across the world after its 2003 launch, will soon ring its final bubbly dial tone, Microsoft has announced. "In order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs," Microsoft's President of Collaborative Apps and Platforms Jeff Teper wrote in a Feb. 28 statement, "we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams (free), our modern communications and collaboration hub." Confirming that Microsoft Teams"its other video calling platform"has most of the "same core features" as Skype and that the company is "excited about the opportunities ahead," Teper concluded with a sentimental message.