Ask HN: Abandoned/dead projects you think died before their time and why?

Skype ; Because my R.I.P. grandma was using it to talk to her relatives overseas just like she would use a phone, but it didn't cost an arm and a leg (unlike phone calls).

One of the best P2P software at the time. It was so simple and effective and allowed people to call real phones with Skype credit.

A genius product ripped my Microsoft. Have you used Microsoft Teams recently? Bad UI, hard to configure external hardware and good level of incompatibility, missing the good old "Echo / Sound Test Service". At a point I even installed Skype of my old Android but was sucking up too much battery.

Not just "of the time" - if you need to call international numbers as of 2025, there's no good replacement for Skype from earlier this year.

I had a similar pleasant experience with Skype. Back in 2009, I was deployed to the Persian Gulf. This was before ubiquitous cell phones (at least, I left my cell phone back in the US). Phone cards worked to call home, but my cheap solution was to use Skype from my handheld PSP using Wi-Fi from a cafe. It worked out great for me at least, and I'll always appreciate that.

I used skype because Ward Christensen insisted on it... now both are gone. 8(

My friends now use Discord, and it's an acceptable substitute, like Skype it's always pushing a ton of features and updates I didn't ask for. ;-)

> One of the best P2P software at the time.

and, after it was bought by Microsoft, the best spyware at the time. When it was running, the harddrive LED will be always on, just like network activity.