14 DAY TRIAL // While many believe that Skype would at one point be discontinued given Microsoft’s increased focus on Microsoft Teams, the app is here to stay, there’s no doubt about that.
And if you still don’t believe it, here’s the very latest living proof in this regard. The Redmond-based software giant has started showing a Skype ad right in the Windows 10 search UI, as per this reddit thread.
More specifically, the ad seems to show up even without typing anything – in other words, simply clicking the search icon on the taskbar to launch the search interface triggers the Skype ad that’s displayed in the lower part of the UI.
“Meet with anyone. Host meetings for free on Skype. No sing-up or download required,” the ad reads.
Users are also provided with a download link to get Skype, and they are allowed to close the ad by simply clicking the small X button in the right corner.
“They’re pushing Skype now”
Interestingly, several users on reddit claim that Skype was enabled on their devices all of a sudden without they specifically installing the app.
“Today I got an icon thingy for Skype beside the battery and WiFi icons. I've never in the 4 years I've had my pc have used Skype on it,” someone says on reddit. “Seems they're pushing Skype now. Haven't used it in over 4 years as well. There must be a reason for this, as far as I know Teams is pretty popular in businesses, so why Skype and why now?” another user adds.
At this point, the ad doesn’t seem to show up for everybody, as the search UI doesn’t come with any ad on my laptop. If anything, users who don’t like it can simply close the ad and then hope it never shows up again in the future.