Bad news for users of the Skype 7 client: Microsoft has now finally pulled the plug and forces Skype users to install version 8 of the client.
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In July 2018, Microsoft announced with the launch of the new Skype 8.0 client that the desktop version 7.x of the old client would expire on September 1, 2018 (see my blog post Skype Classic v7.x client; End of life extended …). Users who are still using the Skype desktop client in version 7.x (there are probably some scenarios for use in corporate environments), was informed to upgrade to version 8.x of the client.
After a shitstorm (Microsoft has ruined the Skype 8 client), the company had to row back a bit and extend the life of the Skype 7 client. The company has announced the end of support for Skype Classic (Skype Client 7.x) for November 1st 2018 and recommends users to update to Skype 8.x and later immediately. I reported this within the blog post Skype Classic: Support ends on November 1st 2018.
Skype 7 client is dead now
Well, I haven't used Skype for a while, but I still have the Skype 7 client installed on my Windows 7. A German blog reader mentioned at the end of January 2019, that his Skype client won't work anymore.
Now it seems to be finally true, Skype 7 does not allow any more a registration. I can't even access the chat history without installing Skype 8.
I tried yesterday my Skype 7 client. The login page appeared and I entered the login details.
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The client tries to log in to the Skype service, but fails and a message, the the Skype client is to old, is shown within the login window. So there is no Skype without a Skype 8 client anymore.
guenni:
one person from this page seemed to have gotten an old Skype 7 client working on an old XP SP3 computer; that was near the end of January 2019:
http://wp.xin.at/archives/4501
I'm not sure if it will work in February 2019 and beyond.
Hello again, EP! ;)
I'm the person who wrote the article you've just linked to, so I thought I'll mention this here as well (just in case people find this page before mine); My solution with the launcher script you can find on my site still works today (2019-02-05).
What I do *not* know is whether it also works for the regular ("modern") Skype 7, as I've used the Skype 7 Classic version for XP specifically. Also, I do not know for how long this will continue to work, obviously.
I have Skype 7.36 on WinXP and it *partially* works for now. I log on with no problems at all and I can send and receive messages. But calls in or out don't connect, they are shown later as missed/unanswered ones.