What country was skype created in? How Microsoft turned Skype users against their favorite brand. Before Skype, or a digression into history

What is Skype

Skype is one of the most popular Internet telephony services in the world, as well as the messenger preferred by many.

Skype was created by Skype Technologies SA v 2003. The history of creating a product for citizens of the post-Soviet space is notable for the fact that Estonians took part in writing the first program. Even now, according to Wikipedia, Skype has the majority of developers and almost half of the general department in its Estonian division. The company itself began as a national Swedish company, and positioned its program as VoiP- means of Internet telephony. Following the acquisition in 2011 of Skype Limited by Microsoft, the company is a division of Microsoft headquartered in Luxembourg,

What does the word Skype, which gave the name of the world-famous program and company, mean? It is useless to look in dictionaries for how this abbreviation is translated. Initially, the application program was called Sky Peer-to-Peer, which can be translated as "heavenly peering". The name described the principle of the service, but it turned out to be too long, they decided to shorten it to Skyper, the domain of the same name turned out to be busy, and we decided to use a truncated Skype.

First version 0.97 appeared in 2003, and since then the version history of the program has been a history of innovation and world conquest. All versions of Skype - from the first to the latest - are the introduction of new technologies, focus on new types of devices and removal from competitors. The number of users and market share of international calls is constantly growing.

What is Skype today? This is a free program with which users can make calls to other subscribers and exchange messages and files with them. Subscribers can also subscribe to paid services: calls to fixed and mobile phones, sending SMS, access to Wi-Fi. What can be done on Skype for free today was still possible yesterday only with a subscription: for example, . At the time of this writing, beta testing of a version with a built-in function has been launched instant translation. The dictionaries available for voice calls and chats differ. For voice communication, this is so far English and Spanish, for messages - 44 languages ​​used in Microsoft Translator. In the near future, we are waiting for simultaneous translation into Russian of conversations and words in more than 40 languages ​​of the world.

Those who have this program prefer to use it both as a means of audio and video communication, and as a messenger, that is, via the Internet. Some argue that Skype is a social network. But to call it a social network can only be a very big stretch. Here, information about your posts is available only to a certain circle of users included in the correspondence, and from public information, and even then only to your contacts, information - how old you turn on your birthday, a small photo and status. Still, Skype is a "normal" communication service, the main purpose of which is to provide high-quality communication.

The application is so popular that in connection with it there are many questions even among the uninitiated. We answer FAQ- frequently asked Questions.

What is Skype?

What year was the app launched?

In 2003. This is the date of foundation of the company, and the creation of the first version.

Who owns the program?

After the transaction of 2011 Skype is included into Microsoft corporation

How many users around the world use Skype?

These data vary depending on the source. Usually used with numbers "more than 300 million", and here is the wiki data - 660 million. We don’t know if Wikipedia estimates Skype correctly, but the fact that the number of users is huge is also confirmed by the official “modest” data, and the reviews about the service are mostly good.

What does it mean that Skype uses VoiP?

This means that IP networks (one of which is the Internet) are used to connect subscribers. What the program does with them is another question. Skype sets the algorithm for using these networks and many other parameters.

Where is the full archive of program versions stored?

Versions that are no longer supported or that do not correspond to the state of the art are not stored in the public domain on the official website. To have access to them and be able to run them, you need to contact special repositories or specialists interested in the subject. They will help you decide what versions are available for your device in case it is outdated, and what this or that product is for.

What does the Skype logo look like?

Skype is a trademark owned by Skype / Microsoft and is protected by copyright:

Therefore, the trademark sign is integrated into the logo tm / tm:

Please note: if an adapted spelling of the word “Skype” is possible in the text, then in the logo the word can only be used as it is written in English.

We hope this article allowed you to understand why Skype is needed, what it is and where it came from.

Now you need and - welcome to the world of unlimited communication!

Video review:

With agree, Skype most users have long been associated with something incredibly solid and serious. I guess Skype really is a serious thing, since so many people use it and so many other people want to be aware of exactly how the first people use it. Only here is the history of the creation of Skype, and the history of its further development from the words "serious" and "solid", if not very far, then at least clearly not close.

Exactly Skype today is almost the absolute leader in the number of dark stories, semi-legal deals and patent scandals. There are so many dark spots in the history of the program that by this criterion, it can easily win the title of world champion in gray schemes. However, while these are just words, let's move on to the facts.

Skype Background: Pirate Parents Make KaZaA

You may not believe me, but the founders of the program (not the developers, please note) were people with far from the most impeccable reputation. To complete the picture, let's fast forward to the very beginning of the "zero" when two enterprising companions Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström(pictured right) came up with and brought to light a program for sharing files KaZaA. A program that at one time broke many records in terms of the number of downloads.

It should be said that the founders of the file sharing service were mainly engaged in organizational and marketing issues, and our former compatriots, Estonians, were engaged in the implementation and creation of the project as such. Jaan Tallinn, Priit Kazesalu and Ahti Heinla(pictured left). All three programmers were in the same class.

And so, until the end of 2001, the file-sharing network was doing just fine, but then thunder struck: several very large music labels immediately sued the owners for copyright infringement. In fact, the program was declared illegal, and its owners were accomplices of pirates.

The founders of the service had to urgently go underground: the possibility of arrest and subsequent punishment was by no means illusory. For the time being, the Estonian programmers were not interested in the investigation, but then it was their turn. Fortunately, no specific charges were brought against them.

The problems ended only at the end of 2001, when the owners of KaZaA resold the service to an Australian company Sharman Networks.

The former owners made a very wise move by pre-registering exclusive rights to the data transfer protocol Global Index P2P offshore (Virgin Islands). Now they had a protected patent, which investigators from Europe could no longer reach. But for the sake of which such complex machinations were carried out, I will tell in the next section.

Creation of Skype

As I already said, KaZaA was based on the P2P protocol, which, in fact, was the main feature of the service. Its unusualness is that the protocol code is closed and extremely complex, and all transmitted data is subject to mandatory encryption. In addition, it is convenient in that when using it, no special one is needed: the users connected to the computers act as roles. Accordingly, this dramatically complicates the interception and tracking of any transmitted information.

And with such a big trump card in my hands, it would be a crime not to create something innovative on its basis. Actually, this is exactly what the enterprising and far-sighted Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström did. Having received money to start a new project from a well-known venture capitalist, they began developing a completely new client for transmitting voice and other types of messages.

That's right, that's what Skype was known to everyone today.

Since the owners of Skype already had guys “in the know” (still the same team of Estonian programmers), we didn’t have to wait for a long start - August 29, 2003 the first official release of the program was released, which immediately attracted the attention of thousands of users.

What exactly did you take Skype for? Perhaps the main advantages were ease of use and excellent sound quality. Later - also multiplatform. In fact, a powerful blow was dealt to the stomach of the entire cellular telephony industry, because now communication between users anywhere in the world was completely free.

In other words, Skype has become popular not only among law-abiding users, the service has attracted all sorts of criminals, drug dealers, terrorists, and in general everyone who did not welcome the publicity of their negotiations. Due to the fact that the data was almost guaranteed to be protected from interception, Skype has become a favorite means of communication for many dark personalities.

It got to the point that Skype's Luxembourg office received hundreds of complaints from the intelligence services of a good dozen countries. The requirements were similar: ban, declassify, allow. Only the founders of Skype were already scientists: they had an impeccable legal base on their side, which 100% protected anyone from external intrusion and attacks.

Ebay and Skype

By 2005, Skype became so popular that the largest planet became interested in it. To tell the truth, the auctioneers themselves did not know what exactly this service had surrendered to them, but they felt its enormous potential, and therefore began negotiations on the purchase.

In the fall of 2005, Ebay announced the purchase of Skype for a fabulous amount of $2.6 billion for that time. In the blink of an eye, the founders of the service became billionaires, and the programmers got something: each of the starting trinity received $42 million.

It would seem that a period of recognition and calm has come, you can rest on your laurels and spend profits. Nothing like that: the former owners of the service managed to enter the same river twice. Paradoxically, they sued Skype, accusing the company of not having the right to consider the P2P protocol its property, since the patent for the invention is still in the hands of the old owners. Hitro, do you agree?

I will not tell you about the long ups and downs, which, by the way, lasted more than one year, I will only say that there was a fair amount of noise. The result of all this is this: in November 2009, Skype was sold again, and the former pirates received a 14% stake in the service and a seat on the board of directors. And that's without a penny of investment, by the way. They just dropped legal action from Ebay (patent abuse, remember?).

Over the four years that Skype was owned by Ebay, the service managed to turn into a “candy”, becoming truly popular and loved all over the world. For greater effect, I will indicate only one figure: the number of users has grown from 55 to 400 million. The service was waiting for new owners who could afford such an expensive toy.

The era of Microsoft in Skype

And the big fish bit. In 2011, an agreement was reached on the purchase of Skype by a well-known company for again a record $8.5 billion. Of course, Microsoft lawyers have now done everything so that the patent embarrassment does not happen again. The rights to Skype were obtained in absolute terms, and the cunning Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström again had a considerable profit in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars for their stake. In fact, they managed to get money from different companies twice for the same product. These are, indeed, the sharks of capitalism.

The new owners got down to business seriously, since their resources were almost endless. It is thanks to strong technical support and huge financial investments that today Skype is one of the most popular and sought-after programs in the world. The number of users has long exceeded half a billion, and this, as experts say, is far from the limit.

She is so incredible the history of the creation of Slype. The history of a service that brought billions to someone, and only a headache and numerous problems to someone. And this, I can assure you, is only a small part of the iceberg. Many facts are still reliably hidden from the general public and are unlikely to ever be made public.

From Monday, March 30, 2020, restrictions on movement around the city are introduced in the capital (home self-isolation mode) for all residents of Moscow, regardless of age.

The corresponding Decree No. 34-UM dated March 29, 2020 was signed by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on March 29, 2020. The new document amends (supplements) the previously issued Decree No. 12-UM of 03/05/2020.

We tell what can and cannot be done in accordance with the new Decree.

Despite the introduced regime of self-isolation, in some cases it is still possible to leave the house. We list these cases below.

In what cases you can leave the house:
* In case of seeking emergency medical care.
* In the event of a threat to life or health.
* In case of going to the place of activity (work), the implementation of which is not prohibited. We previously wrote about
* For the purchase of products and goods - to the nearest store.
* In the case of walking pets - at a distance of no more than 100 meters from the place of residence.
* If necessary, take out the garbage - to the nearest place of accumulation of waste.

If you still need to leave the house, you should follow a number of rules.

How to behave on the street, in public places and public transport:
* It is necessary to keep a distance (social distancing), that is, not to approach other citizens at a distance of less than one and a half meters, with the exception of taxi rides.
* Follow the instructions of the special markings for social distancing in the places where it is applied.

The Decree does not apply:
* in cases of medical assistance. help.
* on the activities of law enforcement agencies and other bodies whose actions are aimed at ensuring the safety of citizens.
* for road traffic.
* for citizens who have been issued special permits.
* for cases of arrival and departure from the city.

Until what date will the self-isolation regime for all residents of Moscow, introduced from March 30, 2020, last:

In a published document There is no timeline for the end of the lockdown introduced from March 30, 2020.

This means that the timing of the lifting of the home self-isolation regime will be announced later, after the epidemiological situation improves in Moscow and the region, and the spread of coronavirus infection begins to decline.

Communication is one of the main components of our life. The development of technology pushed letters written by hand to the “backyard”, giving the palm to IT tools. The latter include mobile communications and the Internet. With their help, you can freely communicate, being hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart. Now we do not run to the mailbox - we rush to the computer as fast as we can, when the Skype call begins to ring melodiously and loudly in it.

Leading communication tool

Without exaggeration, we can say that this program is a kind of symbol of freedom on the Internet. Many users of this utility are seriously interested in how Skype was created and who was its founder? There are many opinions about this issue. And most of them are false. Interestingly, many Danes and Swedes declare with absolute certainty that the developers of Skype are their compatriots. However, this is not entirely true. This article talks about who really invented Skype and how this utility has gained recognition around the world.

Estonian roots

Everyone probably knows a small beautiful European country whose name automatically raises a smile - Estonia. For some reason, the population of the former Soviet Union associates this state exclusively with the slowness and slowness of its citizens. Imagine the surprise of many when it becomes known that the creation of Skype is the work of the Estonian guys. Agree, it is incredible that this country with a slow pace of life is home to one of the fastest programs for communication on the Internet. This fact contains a seemingly hidden allusion to an absolutely false idea of ​​the temperament and character of Estonians.

The origin and development of the utility

The history of Skype began in 2003. It was then, about 11 years ago, that the Estonian guys Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jan Tallinn developed the initial code, which was the foundation of the future program. At that time, they were also working on a file sharing utility between Internet users. This program is called KaZaa. Together with Estonian young people, the founders of the described file hosting service also worked on this project: Dane Janus Friis and Swede Nicholas Zenstorm. In the process of work, not even slow guys designed the code, which became the basis for the future interactive program.

In parallel with how Skype was created, programmers studied the requirements and wishes of users of the World Wide Web. It became clear that people no longer have enough of a simple chat. Therefore, the team of creators decided to endow the utility with all possible functions that will facilitate not only written communication, but also video communication, as well as the exchange of various data.

Name choice

The original name for the utility was the expression "Sky peer-to-peer", which means "Across the sky with each other." The team then settled on a shortened version of "Skyper". However, in the process of registering domains on the World Wide Web, it was discovered that this name was already taken on many resources. As a result, young people "threw" the last letter "r" from the name and opted for a simple and concise "Skype". This name selection process took several months. The final decision was made in April 2003. The result was the successful registration of domain names Skype.net and Skype.com.

Full version and rise in popularity

In August of the same year, an official program was made available on the Internet, which had almost all the functionality planned by the developers. The so-called beta version was released to the network in order to obtain detailed information about errors and malfunctions. While Skype was being created, the programmers decided in the future, as far as possible, to introduce into their “brainchild” the functions that consumers want to see. It is thanks to the beta version that the developers have collected enough information about the tastes and preferences of users, which allowed them to create a fast utility equipped with various modes.

The first full version became available to users in autumn 2003. It is noteworthy that in a few months the number of users of this program has grown hundreds of thousands of times. A huge number of people thanked those talented programmers who came up with Skype.

Advantages of the utility

What attracted users to this program?

For starters, it's free to use. The minimum and necessary set of functions for communication is available for free. Remarkably, among them the leading position is occupied by video communication. For many people who live hundreds of thousands of miles apart, this mode is a great opportunity to be closer to each other.

The second point is quick registration. In order to become a member of the large "Skype family" it is enough to enter your mailbox address in the field, select a nickname and password. And that's it. Now you can enjoy.

This utility also has a convenient and intuitive interface. Thanks to the well-designed toolbar, you can easily switch modes, change tabs and customize the program. The fourth point is a convenient and quick search for an interlocutor. Just go to the "Contacts" tab and click "Add contact". We enter a name for the search and in the window that appears, select the one we need. A request to be added to the contact list will be sent at the same time.

Of course, the huge advantage of Skype over other programs for communication is the presence of a large number of different functions. The first and most common (like all similar and similar utilities) is the ability to send and receive simple text messages. The presence of video calls has made Skype the leading application for contacting distant interlocutors. In addition, using the program, you can share various files: send photos, documents, music, videos, and more.

First problem

Two years after the release of the program, the first unpleasant event for developers occurred. Trying to introduce the population of China to the new mobile version of the utility, a team of young programmers received serious resistance from local telecommunications companies. The reason for this was the fear of Asian corporations to lose control over the conquered market segments. Only a few Chinese companies made concessions and agreed to add the SkypeOut application to their mobile phones.

Sale and returns

The rapid growth in popularity has attracted the attention of large companies to this program. In 2005, the developers sold their "brainchild". The buyer was eBay, which offered $2.6 billion for the interactive utility. After some time, the corporation, known worldwide for its online auctions and the PayPal payment system, paid bonus payments to the developers of the program, increasing the cost of Skype by 500 million. The history of the creation and modernization of the utility includes another owner. In 2011, eBay sold the rights to the program back to the developers and their attracted investor, Microsoft. The deal amounted to $8.5 billion.

At the moment, this is the full version of the story about how much the developers have yet to come. A huge number of plans are in front of programmers. We can only look forward to new and more advanced versions of the Skype interactive communication program.

Skype is free software that allows text, voice, and video communication over the Internet. Skype is currently the most popular means of communication over the Internet.

The history of Skype

Before the creation of Skype, two young entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, together with Estonian developers, created the extremely popular file sharing application "KaZaA". However, in 2001, this application was declared illegal and was closed. As a result, from the former popular application, entrepreneurs were left with only a unique P2P protocol, which was the main feature of the application.

With such a unique code that made it difficult to intercept and track the information transmitted between computers, entrepreneurs decided to create a new application based on it. As a result, they received the initial cash capital from the investor and began work.

Skype Technologies was founded on August 29, 2003. On the same day, the first version of Skype was presented.

First versions of Skype

Initially, the program had an extremely simple interface. The program also featured a simpler form of account registration. At that time, Skype could only be used to make calls. It is because of the ease of installation and registration that the program has gained great popularity among users.

In the next versions of Skype, an autoresponder appeared, and the ability to send messages to other users was also added. In the same version, users for the first time got the opportunity to link their Skype account with a mobile phone number.

In version 2.0, the ability to make video calls was added.

Selling Skype

In 2005, Skype became a hugely popular application. As a result, Ebay decided to acquire the rights to own the program. In the end, the app was sold for a record $2.6 billion. So, the founders of Skype Technologies became billionaires. Also, the programmers who worked on the creation of the program received $42 million each. However, almost immediately after the sale, the former owners of the program sued Ebay for using the P2P protocol that was still theirs. The lawsuit lasted for four years, as a result, Ebay was forced to sell Skype. The former owners of Skype received a 14% stake in the service, and also entered the board of directors.

At the time when Skype was owned by Ebay, the program acquired a new, more beautiful design. In addition, the number of registered users has grown from 55 million to 400 million.

Selling Skype to Microsoft

In 2011, Microsoft became seriously interested in buying Skype. As a result, both companies agreed to sell all rights to use the program for $8.5 billion. Microsoft took into account the mistakes of the previous buyer and previously discussed the acquisition of rights to the patent of the P2P protocol used in the application.
Having taken possession of Skype, Microsoft employees began to seriously work on updating it. It was Microsoft who created the modern look for this application.

Features that the modern version of Skype has

• Voice connection. Using Skype, you can make free calls to the accounts of other users of the program. And you can communicate with one person or with several. It is also possible to make calls to mobile phone numbers, but this feature is paid.
• Video calls. Any user has the ability to make video calls with other users of the program. This feature requires a webcam.
• Sending text messages. Skype also allows you to contact users of the program using text chats. Moreover, the application saves the history of correspondence with all users for up to 30 days. For convenience, special sets of emoticons have been added to the program.
• Transferring various files. Skype users can freely exchange various files up to 300 MB in size.

Skype benefits

• Absolutely free audio and video calls between service members.
• Send text messages and make calls to mobile phone numbers at extremely low rates.
• The ability to make group conferences in the mode of audio and video calls.
• Ability to transfer various files.
• A screen sharing feature that allows the participants in a conversation to see what is happening on your screen.
• Skype is suitable for Windows, Linux and Mac, and also works on iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.
• Reliability and confidentiality. The developers of the program have adopted many different security measures to create the privacy of the negotiations.