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Windows 11 doesn’t come pre-installed with Skype – is this the beginning of the end?

Move over, Skype - Microsoft Teams is taking your place

Even though Microsoft chose Skype to be pre-installed on any new copy of Windows 10 for your gaming PC, it’s been noticeably absent in the from the newly announced Windows 11. Instead, Microsoft Teams holds a proud spot on the start menu in published screenshots. Microsoft confirms that it will not include Skype – as well as apps such as Paint3D – on any fresh install of the new OS, although it will stay on your rig if you’re upgrading from Windows 10.

The company running two separate programs that perform the same task meant this was bound to happen eventually. We imagine it won’t be long until Skype follows the same fate that Internet Explorer did, after it existed alongside the much better Edge browser for six years.

Programs like Discord and Teamspeak becoming the preferred programs for communicating with teammates. Combined with the rise of Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, Skype is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

While you’ll still be able to install Skype manually on a fresh install of Windows 11, we wonder how much longer Skype will be around for. Still, for a 17-year-old program, it’s had a good run.