I’ve been a Skype user since almost the beginning of Skype’s existence. I don’t remember who told me about Skype, but I introduced it to a lot of my friends who are on Skype today.

I remember in the beginning, after almost every call, you’d get a popup: “How was that call? What can we do to improve?” Annoying, almost to the point of harassment. But after a couple years, I’d get a clear phone call even on the crappiest, slowest, internet connection. Skype was the best.

Then they sold to Microsoft.

A long time ago, more than a year, Skype came out with an “update” that eliminated the ability to shut down the program. Well, first they made it difficult to find the shutdown button, then they took it away entirely.

I kept an old version of Skype, that had the “off” button.

Last week, for a few days, I tried to call my Mom, but Skype wouldn’t log in. This wasn’t unusual, as quality had been deteriorating since Microsoft bought it.

Then yesterday I got an email, saying old versions of Skype wouldn’t work anymore, and everybody must upgrade. I upgraded, and then Skype would run in the background all the time. One of my two app killers wouldn’t shut down Skype, and I deleted that app killer. The other would, so I had found a workaround, but after stewing about it for a while, I deleted Skype, this time forever.

If I am not connected to WiFi, and turn on my data plan, and get a call  on Skype, that would really crank up the megabytes.  I’ve heard stories about people who get phone bills for thousands of dollars because of excessive data usage. If I can’t control apps that may cost me money, I don’t want them, and won’t have them.

And as far as Microsoft’s motivation for not wanting me to be able  to shut off their program, I can’t think of any reasons, except diabolical ones.

Therefore it’s Good bye Skype! Forever.

So what phone  app are we going to use now?