4 ms·

Someone do a piece on Microsoft Netmeeting please. I remember doing video chat on it in the mid-nineties. And then Microsoft killed it. And then Microsoft bo

Someone do a piece on Microsoft Netmeeting please. I remember doing video chat on it in the mid-nineties. And then Microsoft killed it. And then Microsoft bought Skype for $8 billion. And basically killed that too. (I've never done a Skype during Covid. Done plenty Zooms.) And they had a working competitor to Zoom as far back as the mid-nineties.

llimos 6y ago
I still remember the thrill of chatting online with my schoolfriends for the first time. We called each other on our landlines, coordinated which NetMeeting 'directory' to meet on, hung up so we could use dial-up internet, and it worked! It felt magical. Then MSN Messenger came along and make everything so much easier.
- Lorin 6y ago
  MSN Messenger had the sketch tool which I used to communicate with many friends via drawings. I feel it missing to this day.
ThePadawan 6y ago
> And then Microsoft bought Skype for $8 billion. And basically killed that too. (I've never done a Skype during Covid. Done plenty Zooms.) My $0.02: Skype (for private usage) is still around, and I still sometimes boot it up (to e.g. call my family or recruiters). Skype for Business is in process of being killed by MS Teams. I only had one call on SfB recently - and it was by far the technically worst experience. Interruptions, people had to turn off webcams to conserve throughput for audio etc. MS Teams works surprisingly well. I've not had any technical trouble with it during the pandemic, and it's (together with Zoom) the most popular choice. (I might be biased since I applied to many companies with a MS tech focus)
- chipsa 6y ago
  It's worth noting that Skype for Business is an entirely different product than regular Skype. It's just got the same name for name recognition.
  - ThePadawan 6y ago
    That's right - now I remember I used it back when it was Microsoft Lync. It certainly wasn't as much of a end-of-life project as it is now. Why the branding was changed to the Skype product line, and then just Skype for Business canned (to-be-discontinued by 2025), is really weird to me.

llimos 6y ago

I still remember the thrill of chatting online with my schoolfriends for the first time. We called each other on our landlines, coordinated which NetMeeting 'directory' to meet on, hung up so we could use dial-up internet, and it worked! It felt magical. Then MSN Messenger came along and make everything so much easier.

Lorin 6y ago
MSN Messenger had the sketch tool which I used to communicate with many friends via drawings. I feel it missing to this day.

ThePadawan 6y ago

> And then Microsoft bought Skype for $8 billion. And basically killed that too. (I've never done a Skype during Covid. Done plenty Zooms.) My $0.02: Skype (for private usage) is still around, and I still sometimes boot it up (to e.g. call my family or recruiters). Skype for Business is in process of being killed by MS Teams. I only had one call on SfB recently - and it was by far the technically worst experience. Interruptions, people had to turn off webcams to conserve throughput for audio etc. MS Teams works surprisingly well. I've not had any technical trouble with it during the pandemic, and it's (together with Zoom) the most popular choice. (I might be biased since I applied to many companies with a MS tech focus)

chipsa 6y ago
It's worth noting that Skype for Business is an entirely different product than regular Skype. It's just got the same name for name recognition.
- ThePadawan 6y ago
  That's right - now I remember I used it back when it was Microsoft Lync. It certainly wasn't as much of a end-of-life project as it is now. Why the branding was changed to the Skype product line, and then just Skype for Business canned (to-be-discontinued by 2025), is really weird to me.