So it's time to tell what Skype is and how to use it. And also consider the main functions of Skype. In the age of information technology, telephone conversations do not fully meet the needs of people in communication. Without virtual communication in its various manifestations, nowhere. Of course, both tools have their strengths and weaknesses and successfully coexist with each other. The main disadvantage of telephone communication is its cost. Especially if we are talking about long-distance calls, and even more so, if we are talking about long-distance calls on a cell phone. Here the virtual way of talking is far ahead of the opponent.

After the good old e-mail, the most popular means of communication on the Internet is instant messaging. One of the common means for communication is the Skype service. The project began its existence back in 2003. The first versions attracted users with ease of installation and account registration. Today it is used all over the world for business and personal communication. The number of registered accounts is over half a billion.

Download Skype

To work with the system, you need to install the system client on your computer - the Skype program. You can download the installation file from for free, and also do not forget about the page on my blog, which is located. Message history, contact list and other information Skype does not store on the user's computer, but on its server. Thanks to this, you can not be afraid to lose them due to problems like reinstalling the operating system and others. It also makes it convenient to work on multiple computers, for example, as is usually the case, home and work.

Skype allows you to communicate in four ways. But with any of them, before starting a conversation, you need to find an interlocutor in the system. This can easily be done by unique ID, name or email address. Once found, the user is added to your contact list, after which it will be easy to resume communication. You will also see the status of the added user (“Online”, “Offline”, “Away”, “Do Not Disturb”).
The first and most common is instant text messaging. In this mode, you can create multi-user chats with a large number of participants or chat tête-à-tête. To add users to a conversation, click the "Conversations" - "Add people" button in the menu.

After that, a window will appear in which you can select users from your contact list. You can also transfer files in this mode. You should not transfer large files (more than 50 MB), since the program is not designed for this and the procedure is not performed efficiently enough with a large volume. This feature involves the rapid transfer of small files like photos, text documents, so to speak, without looking up from the conversation. But I'll tell you a secret, I managed to transfer files of almost 100 megabytes in size via Skype. The second way is voice communication. This means that if speakers and a microphone are connected to your computer (or you have a laptop), you can call your interlocutor using Skype. In this case, you will communicate in real time as it would be on the phone. In this case, the program window can be minimized and continue to do your business at the computer. This can be very handy when you need to explain to a friend how to use a program. The convenience lies in the fact that you can simultaneously open this program on both computers and learn without being distracted by typing. In this mode, you can also arrange conferences. But the number of participants is limited.

A separate sub-item can be called a very convenient opportunity to show your screen to the interlocutor. This feature can be useful in the learning situation already mentioned above, or if your interlocutor is helping you solve a problem with your computer. To activate this feature during a voice call, you need to click in the menu "Calls" - "Screen Sharing ...".

The third method of communication is video communication. With this method of communication, you not only hear, but also see the interlocutor, and he sees you. Naturally, for this your computers must be equipped with webcams. Up to 5-10 people can participate in a video conference. During video and voice communications, the ability to send text messages and files also works. This can be useful for sending phrases that are difficult to pronounce, such as web links.

Fourth - calls to landlines. In order to use it, you need to credit money to your virtual account. To do this, click in the menu "Skype" - "Deposit money to Skype account ...". Tariffs for calls to landlines from Skype are usually significantly more profitable than telephone communications.

But in each specific case (a call to a landline or cell phone), you should always check the tariffs for a given country. Due to the peculiarities of legislation, the price of Skype calls may be somewhat exaggerated. This feature is very popular, and it is quite understandable given its convenience and benefits.

You can use Skype not only using a computer, but there are also versions for phones and tablet computers.

So, we understood what Skype is, now we need to understand how to work with this program. On the blog, I have repeatedly published information about this program. I think it will be useful for you:

News: Dear readers of the site, soon there will be mega interesting interviews on the blog, from the software developers themselves (who will be visiting is still a secret). Negotiations are underway, and after a while you will be able to learn about them much more than anyone. One thing I can say so far is that most users have these programs installed.

Glitch in Skype.

Every year on March 23, a regional holiday is celebrated in the Chechen Republic - Constitution Day of the Czech Republic.

According to the Decree of the Head of the Administration of the Chechen Republic No. 34 dated March 24, 2003, the holiday date is an official non-working day in Chechnya, an additional day off.

That is, in the Chechen Republic:
* March 23, 2020 (Monday) - day off.

The working week will start on Tuesday and will last 4 days (with a five-day period). Tuesday 24 March 2020 - working day.

Another additional day off awaits the residents of the Republic on April 16, 2020, which is declared the Day of Peace by the Decree of the President of the Chechen Republic. And a week later, on April 22, 2020, a day off was appointed in connection with the All-Russian voting on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

On March 18, 2020, a message appeared on the official website of the Eurovision Song Contest about the cancellation of the event for the current year.

We tell why the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was canceled - the reasons why the event was not rescheduled to a later time, was not held without spectators or remotely.

Why Eurovision 2020 was cancelled:

The reason for the cancellation of the popular musical event was the uncertainty caused by the spread of a viral infection in Europe called COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Why the date of the Eurovision 2020 was not postponed to a later time:

The organizers posted a statement on the official website of the competition, in which they said that they were considering various alternative options for holding the competition. Including the option of holding the competition without spectators, or transferring the date to a later time, after the decline in the spread of infection.

However, the transfer was difficult because the situation with the epidemiological situation in Europe is extremely uncertain and it is not clear when everything will return to normal. If, nevertheless, it is possible to hold a competition, for example, at the end of 2020, the winner will have very little time to prepare the organization of the next event(which is scheduled to take place in May 2021).

Previously, the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be held in the second full week of May: from May 15 to 16, 2020.

Why didn't they hold Eurovision 2020 without spectators or remotely:

Currently restrictions in the Netherlands on the number of people who can attend public events at the same time do not allow Eurovision to be held even in the "without spectators" format.

As for the "remote" format, in this case the organizers will not be able to provide all participants with the same opportunities to showcase their talent which is contrary to the values ​​and traditions of the organization.

Where will Eurovision 2021 take place, in what composition:

Likely to host next year's Popular Song Contest will remain Rotterdam (the second largest city in the Netherlands after the capital Amsterdam).

The decision will be made by the organizers of the competition and the leadership of the Netherlands later.

It has also not yet been decided whether the selected members will be able to perform the submitted songs next year, or whether they will have to compose new compositions. Recall that this year to represent Russia at Eurovision 2020 was supposed to band "Little Big" with the song "UNO".

What is Skype

Skype is one of the most popular Internet telephony services in the world, as well as the messenger preferred by many.

Skype was created by Skype Technologies SA in 2003. The history of creating a product for citizens of the post-Soviet space is notable for the fact that Estonians took part in writing the first program. Even now, according to Wikipedia, Skype has the majority of developers and almost half of the general department in its Estonian division. The company itself began as a national Swedish company, and positioned its program as VoiP- means of Internet telephony. Following the acquisition in 2011 of Skype Limited by Microsoft, the company is a division of Microsoft headquartered in Luxembourg,

What does the word Skype, which gave the name of the world-famous program and company, mean? It is useless to look in dictionaries for how this abbreviation is translated. Initially, the application program was called Sky Peer-to-Peer, which can be translated as "heavenly peering". The name described the principle of the service, but it turned out to be too long, they decided to shorten it to Skyper, the domain of the same name turned out to be busy, and we decided to use a truncated Skype.

First version 0.97 appeared in 2003, and since then the version history of the program has been a history of innovation and world conquest. All versions of Skype - from the first to the latest - are the introduction of new technologies, focus on new types of devices and removal from competitors. The number of users and market share of international calls is constantly growing.

What is Skype today? This is a free program with which users can make calls to other subscribers and exchange messages and files with them. Subscribers can also subscribe to paid services: calls to fixed and mobile phones, sending SMS, access to Wi-Fi. What can be done on Skype for free today was still possible yesterday only with a subscription: for example, . At the time of this writing, beta testing of a version with a built-in function has been launched instant translation. The dictionaries available for voice calls and chats differ. For voice communication, this is so far English and Spanish, for messages - 44 languages ​​used in Microsoft Translator. In the near future, we are waiting for simultaneous translation into Russian of conversations and words in more than 40 languages ​​of the world.

Those who have this program prefer to use it both as a means of audio and video communication, and as a messenger, that is, via the Internet. Some argue that Skype is a social network. But to call it a social network can only be a very big stretch. Here, information about your posts is available only to a certain circle of users included in the correspondence, and from public information, and even then only to your contacts, information - how old you turn on your birthday, a small photo and status. Still, Skype is a "normal" communication service, the main purpose of which is to provide high-quality communication.

The application is so popular that in connection with it there are many questions even among the uninitiated. We answer FAQ- FAQ.

What is Skype?

What year was the app launched?

In 2003. This is the date of foundation of the company, and the creation of the first version.

Who owns the program?

After the transaction of 2011 Skype is included into Microsoft corporation

How many users around the world use Skype?

These data vary depending on the source. Usually used with numbers "more than 300 million", and here is the wiki data - 660 million. We don’t know if Wikipedia estimates Skype correctly, but the fact that the number of users is huge is also confirmed by the official “modest” data, and the reviews about the service are mostly good.

What does it mean that Skype uses VoiP?

This means that IP networks (one of which is the Internet) are used to connect subscribers. What the program does with them is another question. Skype sets the algorithm for using these networks and many other parameters.

Where is the full archive of program versions stored?

Versions that are no longer supported or that do not correspond to the state of the art are not stored in the public domain on the official website. To have access to them and be able to run them, you need to contact special repositories or specialists interested in the subject. They will help you decide what versions are available for your device in case it is outdated, and what this or that product is for.

What does the Skype logo look like?

Skype is a trademark owned by Skype / Microsoft and is protected by copyright:

Therefore, the trademark sign is integrated into the logo tm / tm:

Please note: if an adapted spelling of the word “Skype” is possible in the text, then in the logo the word can only be used as it is written in English.

We hope this article allowed you to understand why Skype is needed, what it is and where it came from.

Now you need and - welcome to the world of unlimited communication!

Video review:

With agree, Skype most users have long been associated with something incredibly solid and serious. I guess Skype really is a serious thing, since so many people use it and so many other people want to be aware of exactly how the first people use it. Only here is the history of the creation of Skype, and the history of its further development from the words "serious" and "solid", if not very far, then at least clearly not close.

Exactly Skype today is almost the absolute leader in the number of dark stories, semi-legal deals and patent scandals. There are so many dark spots in the history of the program that by this criterion, it can easily win the title of world champion in gray schemes. However, while these are just words, let's move on to the facts.

Skype Background: Pirate Parents Make KaZaA

You may not believe me, but the founders of the program (not the developers, please note) were people with far from the most impeccable reputation. To complete the picture, let's fast forward to the very beginning of the "zero" when two enterprising companions Janus Friis And Niklas Zennström(pictured right) came up with and brought to light a program for sharing files KaZaA. A program that at one time broke many records in terms of the number of downloads.

It should be said that the founders of the file sharing service were mainly engaged in organizational and marketing issues, and our former compatriots, Estonians, were engaged in the implementation and creation of the project as such. Jaan Tallinn, Priit Kazesalu And Ahti Heinla(pictured left). All three programmers were in the same class.

And so, until the end of 2001, the file-sharing network was doing just fine, but then thunder struck: several very large music labels immediately sued the owners for copyright infringement. In fact, the program was declared illegal, and its owners were accomplices of pirates.

The founders of the service had to urgently go underground: the possibility of arrest and subsequent punishment was by no means illusory. For the time being, the Estonian programmers were not interested in the investigation, but then it was their turn. Fortunately, no specific charges were brought against them.

The problems ended only at the end of 2001, when the owners of KaZaA resold the service to an Australian company Sharman Networks.

The former owners made a very wise move by pre-registering exclusive rights to the data transfer protocol Global Index P2P offshore (Virgin Islands). Now they had a protected patent, which investigators from Europe could no longer reach. But for the sake of which such complex machinations were carried out, I will tell in the next section.

Creation of Skype

As I already said, KaZaA was based on the P2P protocol, which, in fact, was the main feature of the service. Its unusualness is that the protocol code is closed and extremely complex, and all transmitted data is subject to mandatory encryption. In addition, it is convenient in that when using it, no special one is needed: the users connected to the computers act as roles. Accordingly, this dramatically complicates the interception and tracking of any transmitted information.

And with such a big trump card in my hands, it would be a crime not to create something innovative on its basis. Actually, this is exactly what the enterprising and far-sighted Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström did. Having received money to start a new project from a well-known venture capitalist, they began developing a completely new client for transmitting voice and other types of messages.

That's right, that's what Skype was known to everyone today.

Since the owners of Skype already had guys “in the know” (still the same team of Estonian programmers), we didn’t have to wait for a long start - August 29, 2003 the first official release of the program was released, which immediately attracted the attention of thousands of users.

What exactly did you take Skype for? Perhaps the main advantages were ease of use and excellent sound quality. Later - also multiplatform. In fact, a powerful blow was dealt to the stomach of the entire cellular telephony industry, because now communication between users anywhere in the world was completely free.

In other words, Skype has become popular not only among law-abiding users, the service has attracted all sorts of criminals, drug dealers, terrorists, and in general everyone who did not welcome the publicity of their negotiations. Due to the fact that the data was almost guaranteed to be protected from interception, Skype has become a favorite means of communication for many dark personalities.

It got to the point that Skype's Luxembourg office received hundreds of complaints from the intelligence services of a good dozen countries. The requirements were similar: ban, declassify, allow. Only the founders of Skype were already scientists: they had an impeccable legal base on their side, which 100% protected anyone from external intrusion and attacks.

Ebay and Skype

By 2005, Skype became so popular that the largest planet became interested in it. To tell the truth, the auctioneers themselves did not know what exactly this service had surrendered to them, but they felt its enormous potential, and therefore began negotiations on the purchase.

In the fall of 2005, Ebay announced the purchase of Skype for a fabulous amount of $2.6 billion for that time. In the blink of an eye, the founders of the service became billionaires, and the programmers got something: each of the starting trinity received $42 million.

It would seem that a period of recognition and calm has come, you can rest on your laurels and spend profits. Nothing like that: the former owners of the service managed to enter the same river twice. Paradoxically, they sued Skype, accusing the company of not having the right to consider the P2P protocol its property, since the patent for the invention is still in the hands of the old owners. Hitro, do you agree?

I will not tell you about the long ups and downs, which, by the way, lasted more than one year, I will only say that there was a fair amount of noise. The result of all this is this: in November 2009, Skype was sold again, and the former pirates received a 14% stake in the service and a seat on the board of directors. And that's without a penny of investment, by the way. They just dropped legal action from Ebay (patent abuse, remember?).

Over the four years that Skype was owned by Ebay, the service managed to turn into a “candy”, becoming truly popular and loved all over the world. For greater effect, I will indicate only one figure: the number of users has grown from 55 to 400 million. The service was waiting for new owners who could afford such an expensive toy.

The era of Microsoft in Skype

And the big fish bit. In 2011, an agreement was reached on the purchase of Skype by a well-known company for again a record $8.5 billion. Of course, Microsoft lawyers have now done everything so that the patent embarrassment does not happen again. The rights to Skype were obtained in absolute terms, and the cunning Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström again had a considerable profit in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars for their stake. In fact, they managed to get money from different companies twice for the same product. These are, indeed, the sharks of capitalism.

The new owners got down to business seriously, since their resources were almost endless. It is thanks to strong technical support and huge financial investments that today Skype is one of the most popular and sought-after programs in the world. The number of users has long exceeded half a billion, and this, as experts say, is far from the limit.

She is so incredible the history of the creation of Slype. The history of a service that brought billions to someone, and only a headache and numerous problems to someone. And this, I can assure you, is only a small part of the iceberg. Many facts are still reliably hidden from the general public and are unlikely to ever be made public.

Skype in the modern world is the number one service for making voice and video calls. Since its inception in 2003, the messenger has gradually improved its interface to the point where anyone with basic skills can master it quickly.

It has paid and free versions. The latest version allows users to integrate their Skype and Facebook contacts. Such popularity of the messenger draws special attention to the history of its creation.

First steps

The first question of any user who has been using the program for years and decided to take an interest in its history is “Who invented Skype?”. The original founders of Skype were Scandinavians Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, from Denmark and Sweden, respectively. However, there were three software developers - Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kazesalu and Jaan Tallinn, who created the previously famous KaZaA file sharing service.

These guys came up with a great idea - to give any user with an Internet connection the ability to communicate and talk with any other subscriber. But that's not all, it would all be completely free.

On August 29, 2003, the developers released the first official release of the application, which immediately attracted the attention of thousands of users.

It was something amazing, especially for people from less developed countries, where other means of communication were expensive, limited, or even impossible. People very quickly began to use Skype as a method of making free calls to anywhere in the world. In the blink of an eye, the application became in demand all over the world.

The first earnings of the founders

After such a rapid popularity and demand, the creators had to think that it was time for their product to generate income. They decided to start providing paid services - direct calls to regular phones from Skype and vice versa.

Moreover, they made it possible to make such calls at really discounted prices, many times lower than regular landline or mobile calls.

In 2005, the messenger was actively used by more than 70 million people. Skype began to bring good money to the owners (about $ 35 million per quarter). But that was only the beginning.

Buy Skype eBay

Also in 2005, eBay, the largest and most popular auction on the planet, bought Skype for an astonishing $2.6 billion at the time. The owners of the auction did not fully understand why they needed this development, but they considered the deal big and profitable.

Already in the next 2006, Skype's revenue doubled and amounted to about $195 million. The number of active users also quickly grew to 171 million. In 2007, revenue reached $381 million and there were 278 million users.

During those four years that the messenger was owned by Ebay, the service has become truly popular and in demand all over the world. The number of active users during this time has grown from 55 to 400 million.

In November 2009, the program is sold again. eBay announced that they had sold a 70% stake in the company for $2.5 billion. What's more, the very first owners, those who created the program, received a 14% stake in the service and a seat on the board of directors. Without investing in the development of the service a penny. They simply guaranteed, in return, that Ebay not be sued for illegal use of their patent.

Microsoft era

In 2010, the number of Skype users reached 663 million, and revenue grew by 20% to $860 million. But the company is still losing money, despite the fact that the annual loss was only $7 million.

In 2011, Microsoft announced that they were buying Skype and were willing to pay a whopping $8.5 billion for the deal. It was the largest acquisition the Windows developers have ever made.

Microsoft's managers felt comfortable paying this amount because they had big plans. They planned to integrate Skype into their applications such as Windows, MS office, etc.

Skype is now available on devices running Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and Windows Phones. In addition, for gadgets from Apple and Play Station Portable Sony.

Development of application versions

Skype 4.1 was launched in 2009. By 2010 Skype 4.1 was rooted on Windows, Mac and Linux. Skype has targeted the mobile market for devices such as Android, iPhone and iPad. Early versions only allowed voice calls. In December 2010, Skype video calls became available for iPhone users. By June 2011, Androids are using the same access.

Skype continues to expand into new markets, becoming available for applications such as Linux, smart TVs, game consoles. In May 2011, after the takeover by Microsoft, version 5.3 is released. It includes Facebook integration and group video calls.

The program was dynamic and far exceeded the original scheme. A large number of consumers began to move to a new platform with group calls, unlimited calls in the country and the promise of an ad-free interface.

In November 2012, Microsoft announced that Skype would become the main messaging service. Users can sign in with their Microsoft account. The Bing search bar has also been included in the installer.

The messenger is gradually adapting to the general style of Microsoft.

Skype has already established itself as the leading platform for video and voice calls, instant messaging, file sharing and collaborative chats. Microsoft has turned Skype into a winning investment and an amazing online voice and video chatting software. Its creator can be proud of his offspring.