For most teenagers, Microsoft’s termination of its video calling and messaging application Skype in favor of Microsoft Teams was likely nothing beyond another forgotten news alert. At George Washington University Online High School, however, the change upheaved day-to-day reality.
On Feb. 28, Microsoft released a blog post announcing that it would be closing down Skype, instead promoting a free version of Teams. By late March, Skype contacts and group chats began appearing in Teams, and Skype officially shut down on May 5.
After boasting 300 million monthly users at its peak in 2016, Skype’s daily user count dropped to 36 million in 2023 with the rise of other competing platforms like Zoom and WhatsApp, reported Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Teams had about 320 million monthly users in 2023.
GWUOHS continued to rely on Skype as the primary tool for informal communication until the app’s retirement was announced. Now, nearly a month after GWUOHS completely transitioned to Teams and Skype became inaccessible, students are gradually adapting and growing more accustomed to the new platform.
Early in April, faculty members switched over to Teams, and academic advisers created tutorials to assist students with the change. However, for a while, students continued to be scattered across different stages in the migration process.
After junior Lucas D.* opened his Teams account, he found that it did not work quite as well for him as Skype did, so he kept using Skype for as long as he could.
“I’m just used to Skype, and I’m not having any issues with it yet so I figured that I would stay on it until it became unusable or it officially shut down,” Lucas said in April.
Junior Nikhil N.*, on the other hand, was interested in exploring a new platform, especially after learning that data from Skype would transfer to Teams. According to him, the similar structures of the two applications made it feel like “there was no real adjustment period.”
“My opinion on Teams has definitely improved since the transition. I like that it has a cleaner UI, is easier to log into and doesn’t have such an obnoxious ping sound,” Nikhil said.
Initially, junior Annika O.* was hesitant to use Teams, and she continued using Skype for as long as it remained available. While she still encounters some technical difficulties with Teams, as she grows more accustomed to the platform, Annika finds that the reality of the platform’s interface is better than her initial impressions of the application.
As a co-president of the Book Club, Annika believes clubs can make use of new features not previously found on Skype, such as the ability to form communities, to create a more interactive experience.
“From a clubs perspective, I think that the communities on Teams might be interesting, especially for Book Club, since we do deal with trying to remind people of meetings, files, and possible smaller discussions that we could hold through that feature,” Annika said.
After a bittersweet transition, senior Ajit G.* looks forward to a new era at GWUOHS with Teams.
“[Skype] was such a staple for so long, but I’m hopeful that Teams will bring new possibilities and eventually feel just as familiar,” Ajit said.
*Last names withdrawn for student privacy, per school policy.
