AppleInsider Staff
Microsoft on Friday announced it will be "retiring" older desktop versions of Skype for both Windows and Mac, forcing existing users to upgrade to the latest edition of the popular voice over IP service.
Skype, which was purchased by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion, noted the upcoming change in a post to its official blog.
"We are going to retire older versions of Skype for Windows desktop (6.13 and below) as well as Skype for Mac (6.14 and below) over the next few months," the company said.
While the term "retire" was not clarified in the post, Computerworld later verified with Microsoft that users running these older versions will not be able to log in until they upgrade. In other words, the upgrades are mandatory.
It is unclear why Skype is forcing users to download newer builds of its communications client, though it is theorized that Microsoft may be implementing a new baseline service to support upcoming features.
In May, Skype teased a real-time translation feature that will be consumer ready sometime this year. At the time, Microsoft said it is planning to harvest data from real Skype conversations to achieve higher levels of accuracy, a system that could possibly require a reworking of Skype's backend.
The most current version of Skype for Mac is 6.18, which can be downloaded for free from the company's website.
William Gallagher and Mike Wuerthele
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59 Comments
That means the ppc version will also stop working. Without getting an update. :(
and it will now be called microsoft messenger...
No need for Skype on OS X and iOS anymore use FaceTime or FaceTime voice for free.
Sure, if you only want to talk to people that have iPhones and/or Macs. I don't have technical prerequisites for my friends or colleagues.
It's quite clear why Microsoft must force this upgrade. I used to like Skype, but then came the UI changes just before Microsoft bought them. That made Skype into the worst--bar none--UI on the Mac. I quit using Skype. Others apparently stuck with those older versions instead, hence this need to force them to update. A better-run organization would give OS X and iOS versions a Mac-like UI rather that a Microsoft one.