Skype will ring for the last time on May 5 as owner Microsoft retires the two-decade-old internet calling service that redefined how people connect across borders. Shutting down Skype will help Microsoft focus on its homegrown Teams service by simplifying its communication offerings,

Skype was a vestige of the early-2000s tech boom and bust, and its current users will be transitioned over to free accounts on Microsoft Teams — the company’s preferred videoconferencing and workplace-communications tool, and a big rival to Salesforce Inc.’s CRM Slack. Skype officially will be retired in May.

When The Vergecast was live on YouTube every Thursday, we used Skype’s NDI (Network Device Interface) to bring remote guests onto the show, which was the best software for our needs in the live control room at the time. However, once Zoom took over, that was the end of using the buggy Skype software. – Andru Marino, senior producer

For users, Skype will go offline on May 5, when Microsoft replaces it with a free version of Microsoft Teams. Teams has been Microsoft’s chosen successor for years, offering the same kinds of video calls and group meetings.

Continue your calls and chats in Teams.” That explicitly spells out the plans for Skype’s deprecation in favor of Microsoft’s main-line voice and video chat software. In an email statement, the company told Gizmodo that Microsoft is ending the service on May 5.

The tech giant said it will shift some of its services to Microsoft Teams, its videoconferencing and team applications platform.