SKYPE was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by SKYPE Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls.
How It All Began
SKYPE was launched in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, leveraging peer-to-peer technology to provide free voice calls over the internet; within the first two years the technology had millions of users.
Friis had no formal higher education, dropping out of high school. He obtained a work position at the help desk of CyberCity, one of Denmark’s first internet service providers. He met Zennström in 1996. At that time, Zennström headed Tele2 in Denmark, and Friis was hired to run its customer support. Friis and Zennström worked together at Tele2 to launch get2net, another Danish ISP, and the portal Everyday.com.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY TAMI WANKOFF IN THE FALL 2025 EDITION OF GAMING & LEISURE MAGAZINE.