I still remember when I first discovered Skype, around 2008. Skype was launched in 2003, but even after 5 years, it wasn't as well-known as the most widely used application for text, voice, and video communication: Microsoft's MSN, which used Hotmail email accounts for access, and at that time, almost everyone had a Hotmail account.

When I started using Skype, the voice communication quality was truly incredible. But beyond that, what surprised me was the number of features it had. Nowadays, we download apps for our phones from the Play Store or iTunes, but Skype already employed this concept from the beginning. Among its features, there was an excellent one for businesses: video conferencing. You could connect with up to 8 other people and share your screen. Back then, it was groundbreaking.

I didn't understand why people kept asking for my Messenger account; I begged them to get a Skype one instead. And then came the bad news. Once again, Microsoft with its policy of "not better, just buy it" acquired Skype. They realized that Skype was far superior to their MSN, and it would only be a matter of time before people started migrating en masse. The bad thing wasn't the acquisition itself; the bad thing was that we already knew what MS does when it buys something...absolutely nothing.

Shortly after, the disappointment began. For those who created their Skype accounts after the Microsoft purchase, it must have seemed like just a new screen design, a logo change, and some flashier sounds. They never knew about the features because they simply disappeared. As for me, I had to go back to face-to-face meetings, carrying a notebook or lugging around a laptop.

Thankfully, in the world of technology, there will always be someone willing to make progress. Thus, Google once again took advantage of its competitors' slowness and launched Hangout. They promoted it as an opportunity for multi-participant video conferencing. They weren't the pioneers, but since Skype lost this and other functionalities, they became the only ones.

Skype has hardly changed since its acquisition by MS, but as expected from Google, every time they have a good product, they keep improving it and seeking new applications.

I don't know how much longer Skype will endure because it's still tied to Hotmail and MSN accounts, which means it still has many users. However, if you are an entrepreneur or have a small or medium-sized business, I recommend that you take a look at Hangout; video conferencing may not be your thing, but the features it has today are very powerful for making your business operations more efficient.

As an example, with Hangout, you can record a training session that is automatically uploaded to your YouTube channel, and if you have Google Apps for Business, you can give it your corporate image. Imagine the time it takes to train a new employee, with a training platform, it is greatly reduced, or tutorial videos for customer self-service.