GeekWire's Microsoft@50 event, marking the tech giant's milestone anniversary, will feature on-stage conversations with Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith; former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer;

Microsoft revealed the inevitable and announced it would finally kill Skype. So let's take a walk through the history.

For users, Skype will go offline on May 5, when Microsoft replaces it with a free version of Microsoft Teams. Teams has been Microsoft’s chosen successor for years, offering the same kinds of video calls and group meetings.

Skype first launched in 2003 as a way users could call over the internet without paying their landline company a fortune. Microsoft acquired the app in 2011, but never quite figured out what to do with it. It launched Teams in 2017. After over 20 years of calling and messaging, Skype will be shutting down on May 5.