One of the most used messaging systems across the globe could be getting, yet again, a new application. While it’s not confirmed, Ars Technica reports that their unnamed sources tell them that this is one of the reasons that Microsoft had shut down the studios in London.
Just recently we saw a transition of Skype for Business coming over to Redmond, Washington. The article by the popular tech site says that it might be the symptom of their new cross platform application currently called “Skype for Life”.
Currently, the company has the traditional Windows desktop app; the new Universal Windows Platform app for Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, Xbox, and Skype; the Skype Web client; and a Web-based standalone app for Linux (which apparently has internal builds that run on Windows, too). Skype also has mobile apps for iOS and Android in addition to a macOS client.
This is an excessive number of clients, and what we’re hearing is that Microsoft’s solution is to develop yet another client, codenamed “Skype for Life.” This one client will be cross-platform, covering not just Windows but Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android.
The article didn’t mention Skype for Xbox included in the new app, the preview of which we’ve even seen pop up on the Xbox Marketplace. It will be interesting to see if this “Skype for Life” is actually real and how exactly Microsoft intends to implement it given the slow process of Skype Preview adopted its former glory as a UWP.
Microsoft’s consolidation of Skype and other areas of the company continues to match their projected goals. The major cut for the London offices has cost approximately 220 people their jobs. Ars Technica clarifies “With this client being the primary focus, other clients are moving into maintenance mode, making the teams that build them, including many of Skype’s London staff, redundant.”
For now, nobody from Microsoft has publicly confirmed or denied the possibility of the “Skype for Life” application.
