Windows 10 All-In-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 2

Using Skype in Windows 10

IN THIS CHAPTER

Finding Skype

Getting signed up for Skype

Connecting with Skype

Getting along with Skype

Everybody knows Skype, the instant-text-messaging, long-distance, telephone-killing video-chatting program. Not everybody knows that it started as something of a hacker’s fantasy, about a decade ago, in Estonia. Two of the key players in getting Skype to market, Janus Friis from Denmark and Niklas Zennstrom from Sweden, spent their earlier years getting Kazaa — the notorious file-sharing program — off the ground.

Microsoft bought Skype, lock, stock, and barrel camera, in 2011, for a paltry $8.5 billion — yes, that’s billion with a b. The brass moved to Redmond, but most of the techies are still in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.

In spite of appearances, Skype is a Microsoft product. One hundred percent.

Skype was once known as a long-distance phone killer, but it’s broadened enormously since then. In addition to voice, Skype also handles instant ...