The Skype Shutdown: Why Teams Sounds Like a Downgrade for Some Users

With very short notice, Microsoft finally made a move to kill Skype altogether and concentrate on something that, by default, is integrated with Windows 11 – Teams.

I personally tried to move a few people out of Skype to Teams years back, but now there are no ifs or buts, as Microsoft is pulling the plug. There is no going back.

As much as I am happy, I quickly started feeling that removing Skype is putting some users back.

If you are not paying anything extra to Microsoft, you will quickly notice that you are missing some crucial features in Teams that have been available in Skype for years.

Portrait mode limitation

I tend to communicate over Skype with my parents abroad. They are using a laptop to connect to the call, whereas I am always calling from my mobile.

It’s not really convenient for the other side, whose screen is by default in a horizontal orientation, to see only a portion of the other person when holding the phone in portrait mode. This is why, once I initiate a call, I quickly rotate my phone into a horizontal orientation and everybody is happy.

Something as trivial as screen rotation should not even be considered a feature, but rather a standard thing that all other communicators, like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, have as standard.

With Microsoft Teams, it is not the case.

If you are using Teams with your personal Microsoft account, without paying any Microsoft 365 subscription, you will quickly notice that once you connect to a person who is in a horizontal orientation, you cannot rotate your screen.

You are stuck in portrait mode, as if this is the only mode possible.

If you are joining webinars and somebody starts to present their screen, and the presentation is in horizontal mode, you are unable to rotate the screen to utilise the whole space available. This is a bit of nonsense.

I initially thought that there was something wrong with my app or some settings, but switching (inside that same app) from a personal account to a business account, with an attached Microsoft 365 licence, I quickly noticed that the whole screen of Microsoft Teams can be rotated. Messages can be typed in horizontal mode, and during calls, you do not have any issues rotating the screen.

Switching back to a personal account, even though this is inside the same app, your ability to do standard things is gone.

Low-cost calls

If you ever used Skype Credits to make international calls to landlines or mobiles, at a fraction of the price, this is another feature that you will lose once migrated to Teams.

Without thinking about it and bringing an alternative approach, personal Teams users will be worse off once again.

Real-time translation

Despite the fact that I never used this feature, Skype apparently offered voice and video call real-time translation.

This is something that will also be missing when you are forced to use Microsoft Teams.

SMS Connect

With this feature, you could send and receive SMS messages. Similar to low-cost calls, this is something that is not offered in Teams at all.

Voicemail

In line with low-cost calls and SMS Connect, voicemail is another feature that will be missed.

In the past, you could even integrate some desk phones to use Skype, as well as purchase a Skype number to have a landline where it was not available through normal means. All of which marks an end to a certain era and certain features lost forever.

Calls recording

Once again, Microsoft will want us to spend some money with them. Call recording is another feature that, in Teams (Personal), will only be available with a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Not all things are bad. By migrating from Skype, you will gain more collaboration tools, meeting features, and better security for calls.

However, most basic users do not bother as much with this. They want to use it to make calls in a way that they like, not how it is available, without paying.

Overall, I don’t see any sense in not just sticking with WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, where both of them can offer video calls in the Windows 11 environment without most annoying restrictions, like the limitation of calls to only portrait mode.

I found myself a bit disappointed with all of this.

Skype has been a tool that has worked as simply as possible and as easily as it could be, so even elderly people could operate it without excessive knowledge.

On their own blog, Microsoft wrote:

“We’re excited about the new opportunities that Teams brings and are committed to helping you stay connected in new and meaningful ways.”

This “new and meaningful ways,” as I see it, for personal Skype users, is one step forward, two steps back.