Skype turns four, the fine young thing

Four years ago today, the first public beta version of a little piece of software was released upon an unsuspecting world. The screenshots above help beam us back to the late summer of 2003. (The same day the Inuit of Labrador signed a deal with the Canadian government to self-govern Nunatsiavut. Good to know Skype isn’t alone in the Department of Nice Things to Happen That Day.) Skype today looks quite a bit different from what you see above. But don’t be fooled. Inside, its soul is still the same.

This afternoon, Skype employees around the globe will raise a glass to the four-year-old. But here are a few oven-fresh words penned by the man without whom there would be little to celebrate, Skype’s co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennström:

Today, Skype turned four. I can hardly believe it’s been that long. It only seems like yesterday when Janus and I were talking about people being able to use the computer like a phone. But without a phone. And without a phone bill.

In less than six months, we went from 200 users to two million. Today, we have over 220 million registered users. Real people having real conversations on Skype. And not just voice calls, either. It’s amazing how far we’ve come thanks to those who fell in love with the idea of boundless conversations. Your trust, goodwill and enthusiasm has fueled everything we do.

So now that the recent two-day “outage” is becoming an increasingly distant memory, let me use today’s happy occasion to bow before you — the millions who use Skype to keep in touch with your family, friends and colleagues. I’d like to give you a huge two thumbs up for the great times we’ve had together. And for the amazing times still ahead. Happy birthday, Skypers!

Niklas

Comments

Happy birthday Skype!

Happy birthday Skype. You're the best!

Happy birthday

Happy Birthday you have been a god send.

Happy Birthday!

Many happy returns of the day. Keep the good things on.
Happy birthday and may all the following days be days of joy and happines for all of us.
God bless you all!

Happy Birthday ! Thank you for great messenger, keep working and surprising us! Villu, Janus - YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

I LOVE SKYPE!!! I APPRECIATE YOUR HARD WORK AND EFFORTS TO KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY AND MAKING OUR WORLD-WIDE FRIENDS CLOSER TO US IN A CLICK OF A MOUSE!!! THANKS SKYPE EMPLOYEES...YOUR WORK IS MORE THAN APPRECIATED.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Skype hat in kurzer Zeit der Welt gezeigt, wie Kommunikation im Internet-Zeitalter aussehen muss und großen Telekom-Gesellschaften erklärt, wo es lang geht. Der Weg ist noch nicht zu Ende. Ich wünsche, Skype gewinnt das Rennen und bringt noch viele neue Ideen auf den Weg! Keep on running! It was fun so far, to learn about your ideas and use it to talk to the world! Philipp Grieb

A marvelous, wonderful, exceptional tool that I use every day to communicate with people around the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

¡Feliz cumpleaños!

buon compleanno from the top of Vesuvio!

THIS LITTLE TOOL IS SO AMAZING, THAT IT HAD GROWN TO BE SOOOOO BIIIIG IN OUR LIFES !!!!!! AND THE WORLD WITHOUT IT WOULD HAVE NOT BEEN THE SAME AS IT IS TODAY. I AND MY FRIENDS ARE USING IT EVERYDAY AND WILL BE USING IT EVERYDAY TO COME FOR AS LONG, AS THERE WILL BE SKYPE !!! IS IT FOUR YEARS ALREADY ???? GEEE!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!

Happy birthday! I began to use skype from the end of 2003. It is a very nice thing and I like it very much. I made an advertisement for it in my blog. (Although it has been a long time I stopped writing it.) And I pay attention to the change log (now is release note) and I download the latest skype first time I konw. And I write it on skype to let my friends know. Well I'd like to say thank you for the very good software you provide. Thank you, and wish you can make skype better and better.

Happy birthday Skype.
Thanks for the greatest messanger of all times, hope you stay that way and won't go all-out commercial.
Keep up the good work, cheers.

A bit late, butter better now than never: Congratulations with all my heart!

I like Skype very much and I´m using it more and more. That´s for why I am very interseted in helping you (and also me) in developing Skype / your special services and features specialy for business matters.

So, I have a little bithday present for you - just an information that probably you don´t know up to now and I hope so much, that my little advice will be very helpful for your marketing department / your management in South America (if you don´t have the human resources in South America, I can help you as well to get them):

In Brazil actually there is another VoIP-Systems "collecting" new users by using (forming up) a so called multi-level-marketing organization. I have the offers and conditions here with me, it´s very interesting for you (Skype) to know it. If you would like to get it, I´ll send it to you. Just contact me.

I also developed an intersting idea for Skype how to get new business clients (and private users, of course) in Brazil without using this kind of terrible multi-level-marketing systems. If you are interested in knowing more then just talk with me about your business interests and possibilities in Brazil and South America - just all me ... (-->Skype Prime Service / 1,99 EUR/min. ;-)).

Best regards from Düsseldorf/Germany.

Ralf.Antonius.Lohaus
REAL CONSULT Lohaus e Partners LTDA./Sao Paulo, SP-Brazil

P.S.: please don´t care for some typing errors in my comment above - I wanted to correct them, but I pressed the wrong button. However, I think my birthday present and my info message for Skype is proper clear and comprehensible - ... anyway, I am much better in German or in Portuguese .

happy birth day ^^
http://www.c77c.net

I love Skype because it lets me do so many things I never tought possible before:
- be in touch with the person I love at any time while not being intrusive...
- contact my suppliers and other business relations easily and for very cheap...
- call almost anywhere in the world for almost nothing... and from almost anywhere I get a decent Internet connection ...
- beat the expensive national surcharged phone numbers by calling them "as from abroad"...
and so on ...
So, this is just GREAT !

Happy Birthday Skype ... great messenger, cannot imagine my life without it...way to go!!!!

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Skype turns four, the fine young thing

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