My first time using Skype
A tiny love letter to Skype
Today, Microsoft announced it’s shutting Skype down in May. I’ve been wanting to write about Skype for a long time. So here’s my quick note.
I'm in a pink room in hot, humid Guayaquil, Ecuador in 2004. There are metal bars over the window, the AC is running. I'm 13, and I just moved back to Ecuador. I missed all my friends, my siblings, my "boyfriend."
To make a call to the U.S, I'd have to walk a few blocks to the neighborhood internet cafe with their phone booths. I'd pay upfront for maybe a 5-minute phone call to a friend or boyfriend. I'd sit in that semi-public space, call and have a little cry.
Then, I heard about Skype. I asked my boyfriend, Cody, to try it - and we logged on. Heard that distinctive Skype ringtone, and talked. We talked, over the internet. We talked, with extremely bad audio quality. But it was cheap, it was private, and I could have this conversation whenever I wanted.
Skype felt like magic. It was one of those first moments with technology where I felt like anything could be possible. When tech bros talk about "connection" - this was it. Jumping on a voice call over the internet to talk to a friend when I felt so far away from everything was incredible.
When I think about making technology, I think about these feelings: awe, true connection, and a hint of whimsy. With the bubble logo and that signature sound, Skype didn't feel corporate.
Sidenote: As an adult, I went on to work at TransferWise, another Estonian company founded by an early Skype employee. For a long time, we had the Skype logo on our homepage, and yeah, I felt proud of that.