The Death of Skype, Alexa's Big Upgrade, and the Growing Tech Fatigue

[00:00:18] Welcome to another incredible edition of Tech Watch Radio. We keep an eye on tech so you don't have to. I'm Sam Bushman, Jay Harrison with me. Howdy, Sam. And this broadcast is brought to you by NetworkProvidersInc.com. You've got a friend in the IT business, NPITechGuys.com, the website for the tech show. It's a podcast all over the place, but that's the main website, NPITechGuys.com. Hi, Jay. Hey, Sam. How's it going? I'm just frustrated as always.

[00:00:47] Computer woes got you down? They don't really have me down. It's just I don't understand why it's the way it is is my problem. Everything changes, man. Why is it this way? Let me give an example. So Microsoft bought Skype, and Skype used to be this lean, mean killer app. True. And it was a great online digital phone service, and you could put it on your computer, put it on your smartphone device or whatever else, and you could make these Skype Internet calls.

[00:01:14] And it was free for the Internet. You had to pay to kind of go out and patch to the world a little bit, but it was really good. It had voicemail, had everything you need. It was just tremendous. Predates Zoom, actually, too. Amen. And it could have actually, in my opinion, done better than Zoom. Yeah. But anyway, then Microsoft bought it. Oh, boy. You knew it was going to go south already. And they made it so much better, right? Well, they just destroyed the stupid thing. Well, you know, they're going to destroy it. They're actually phasing it out now officially.

[00:01:44] Oh, my gosh. So hold on. Why buy it if you're just going to ruin it and shut it down? Well, I don't think they have that in mind, of course, when they bought it. I just think that they're... Well, that's what they say, but they do that with everything they touch. I know, but... So when they buy something new, hold on. When they buy something new, you can just go, we know you're going to ruin it, destroy it, and eventually jettison it, right? Well, yeah, you can say that. I mean, Google does a similar thing, right? Yeah, it's goofy. I don't like it. That's what these big companies do, though. You got... Microsoft's going to pull the plug on Skype. And they're marketing at the end of an Internet era.

[00:02:14] I mean, Skype's been around forever, but Skype users now will have until May 5th to either migrate their contacts and chat data to Microsoft Teams. That's what's going to take over for it, Microsoft Teams. So they're going to migrate their contacts, and they're going to export their Skype data before it shuts down, and it's coming soon, May 5th of this year, shutting it down. There's also some interesting notes that go along with this that Microsoft 365

[00:02:41] has sent out in their newsletter beginning of March 3rd, which is next year. This is of March 3rd. You'll no longer have 60 minutes of Skype minutes, of course, since they're shutting that down. That used to be part of if you had a Microsoft 365 subscription. Also, beginning in October 1st of next year, Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported in the Microsoft 365 suite. They say before October 1st of next year,

[00:03:10] you need to convert your existing publisher files to either a PDF or a Word document because after that date, they're no longer going to be open. You won't be able to open or edit them with Microsoft Publisher. So they're cleaning the house, man. They're getting rid of the old stuff and bringing in the new and rebranding. Well, and my problem is this. Why even buy Skype if you're just going to destroy it? So they took Skype. They bloated the program. They made it all kinds of weird. You got to connect this and do this and that. And then they released a bunch of different versions. That's right.

[00:03:40] And I can't even remember all the different versions, but I know you got a personal version and a business version and a this and a that. I can't even understand what I'm running and keep track of what I. Okay. No wonder the thing isn't doing well. No wonder it failed. But they've already had Microsoft Teams, which which for the most part, this is merging into teams now. Why do they even buy it just to stop the competition and then just ruin it and shut it down? No, I don't think so. I think they buy it because then then they own all the intellectual property as well. So they can rebrand it.

[00:04:09] They can roll it into whatever they want. They own all of the patents. They own all of the the pedigree, everything else that goes along with it. And in that sense, it won't die. It's more of a rebranding or a merger or whatever. But it makes sense. I mean, we see companies do this all the time. They buy technology. It doesn't make sense to me. I don't know why. Why? Because I want a simple calling service. That's what Skype was. I don't want to connect to all these other Microsoft 3000 services complication.

[00:04:38] I can't even determine what version of teams I want to run. I know. I know how it is. I understand 100 percent. But that that is not progress, Sam. Progress is. That is. No, no. Progress is to get a stable operating system. Progress is to get a stable computer that actually boots up and runs. Doesn't puke every other day. Progress is stability to where, hey, if I want to run a piece of software, I know what I want to run. Sam. I know how to run it. It's easy to run. If you fix everything, how do you provide solutions, Sam?

[00:05:08] Easy. You provide newer and better features. Right? Right. And you streamline things. Let me give you an example. How much of Word do you actually use? I don't use Word at all really anymore. I mean, there's very few times when I do use it. I do have a subscription. But I use Google Docs probably 20 to 1 of anything I use on Word.

[00:05:34] And then even then, even then I use LibreOffice more than I use Word, which is pretty small too. But, yeah, so you're in a kind of anomaly in the corporate world for sure. Well, I mean, it's moving that way I think a little bit. You know, you have a lot of licenses that are out there. People, we've seen recently the government has, you know, so many thousands or tens of thousands extra licenses that they need. And so people, when you have it like that, I mean, of course you're going to use Word. But if you don't, if you're small business, you know, you're using LibreOffice.

[00:06:03] You're trying not to use Word if you can help it. You don't want to spend $100 per workstation on that or more if you're buying the business version. So, you know, and there are better alternatives in other alternatives, whether they're better or not. I mean, that's debatable, but there are alternatives like Google Docs, like LibreOffice. Yeah, let me throw this out for you for just knowledge sake. Sure. 12% use Google Docs to write papers. 80% use Microsoft Word instead.

[00:06:32] 78% use Google Docs to write papers in a group collaboratively. And just 13% use Word. So if you're doing something alone, it's majority Microsoft. If you're doing something in a team, it's Google all the way. Right. And that's where they actually have shown. And they really shine in that because they pioneered that kind of collaborative work. But I think more people are doing that and, you know, more people, especially when schools are rolling out Chromebooks and things like that, you're going to see more people.

[00:07:01] There's a battle in academia kind of to get that to happen, whether people are going to be on Microsoft Office suites or whether they're going to be on Google Docs or whatever. I personally think people should be looking more into the open source realms. But, you know, I'm probably just the voice of the wilderness. Let me explain the problem with the open source realm. 90% of the open source realm is so complicated mere mortals can't get it done. Like Linux, you're saying, right? No, like even LibreOffice, for example.

[00:07:30] LibreOffice is pretty polished, I think. No, it's polished when you can find it and download it. Yeah. But then you find it and download it and Larry goes, my macro won't run. Can I get Microsoft Office? Nobody's running macros anymore. Dude, we run macros all the time. We download orders from Amazon and we have to run macros to get the file to import to our order system. That's so scary. That's the way it is. I know. Companies are doing it everywhere. Do you got a better alternative?

[00:07:59] Probably not. Okay. So see, what I'm saying is... Yeah, don't run macros. That's the better alternative. Run macros? No, don't run macros. That's the alternative. So how do you then get your orders into your ERP? You just have to use EDI or some kind of API to interface with things. EDI is so expensive, everybody hates it. Nobody wants it. You're forced to use it in certain circumstances, but whenever you can avoid it, you do because it saves you thousands of dollars. Oh, man. You got to open source that too.

[00:08:26] Everything's got to be just interchangeable talking to each other. I want you to see if there's an open source EDI service available for me. Okay. We'll work on that in a future episode. I'm just saying, you look at that. The problem is it gets so complicated. And that's my whole point with Microsoft too, is that, you know what? I don't even know what... Okay, I'll take Outlook. I got Outlook. I don't know what you call it. I don't even know the words to use to describe what I have. I have a desktop Outlook client that's part of Live 365, okay? Right.

[00:08:55] Or part of Microsoft, whatever, Live 365, the Office suite or whatever. And it's downloadable and I install it and I run it. Well, now I'm told that there's a new Outlook coming out and the old one's going away. That's right. Yep. Okay, so what does that mean? How do I get the new Outlook? How do I test it? How do I make sure I can use it before I upgrade to it? Oh, don't you worry. Don't worry. Microsoft will just install it and remove your other one when you're not looking. Well, that won't do me any good. In fact, that'll just create a disaster in my work life. Right. Yeah, that's as intended. Yep. Okay.

[00:09:24] Well, then just delete Skype and... Okay. Anyway, I look at it and I don't know what version of Drive I have. I don't know what version of Outlook I have. I don't know what version of Word I have. I don't know what version of Skype or Teams or whatever. We're on software as a service. A lot of people use Skype, Jay. Nobody cares about version numbers anymore. Sam, nobody updates that. It's all in the cloud, buddy. Well, then how do I know what I'm doing? How do I go to this new Outlook? You can't. You just close your eyes and press Enter. I'm just saying... See, this is what I mean. This is crazy.

[00:09:54] What they need to do is create a standard, stable, consistent marketing campaign where it's clear for what people are doing and what they need to do and everything else. Right? Like, I think I've got three versions of Drive on my computer or something already, don't I? Can't uninstall it. I can't get it off. I mean, I take it off constantly and every time Windows updates, it comes back. Yeah, but then it just goes back. Exactly. Yeah. It's like the Gremlins from Hell kind of a thing. What do you do? Anyway, my whole point with this is, hey, Skype's going away.

[00:10:22] So, I used to have a Skype number that forwarded to our radio numbers so that people that were around the world could dial into radio shows. That's gone now, Jay. Yeah. That will be gone. I don't know if it's gone exactly yet, but it probably will be. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it's gone now or not. It's progress. I want to use it for a couple of months until they chop me off midstream when I need it or I just want to get rid of it now. Don't start promoting it now. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, the whole point for all you Skype lovers, it's going away and it's being

[00:10:52] what? Merged into Teams. Is that the deal? That's right. Merged into Teams. Teams. That's another thing that bugs me. They're putting that on everything, on every copy of Windows. Because whether you got Microsoft 365 or not, you install a clean, vanilla copy of Windows and you'll have Teams and sometimes even multiple versions of Teams on it. Come on. What version do you want, Jay? What version do you need? I don't even know. I don't care. I don't want it. I don't want Teams. You do care, buddy. What happens when your boss says, I need you to come on this Teams meeting?

[00:11:21] We are allowed to choose other software. Myself, personally, for that kind of communication, I choose Telegram. I don't know why I'm forced to use Teams or whatever. It's not going to happen. Nobody even knows what Telegram is, hardly, compared to Teams and compared to that and Zoom and stuff. I don't know. What are you talking about, man? It's pretty popular. Is it easy to send me a Telegram meeting invite? I don't think it works like that, Sam. It's a little bit different. Oh, wait a minute. You have to be part of a chat channel.

[00:11:52] All I know is I just want to have a meeting, okay? I know. They're all different, though. I mean, even Google Meet is different than Zoom. I just want to have a meeting. I just want to talk about my meeting and do what I'm trying to do. I know. I'll meet you on the radio. We'll have a meeting here. Anyway, I don't mean to be, I'm not trying to be so contradictory or contrarian. I get your point and I don't disagree. We should have choice in software. And we shouldn't buy a piece of hardware that's got all kinds of bloated software on there. We don't even know what it is and we don't even know if we want it and we don't even

[00:12:20] know how to use it and we don't have a login for it. And why is it there? I know it. I mean, just imagine if you bought a steak and they're like, we don't sell steaks without, oh, what's that horsey sauce called? That spicy sauce? Horseradish? Horseradish. Okay. Every steak comes with horseradish. Do you like horseradish, Sam? If it's in very mild amounts, yes. Yeah. I'll get like cocktail sauce and mustard and stuff, but not by itself, really. A teeny bit. If you mix it with other stuff, it actually has some good flavor. Like in coleslaw, a teeny bit of it's fine.

[00:12:49] Anyway, I digress, except my whole point is what if every steak just came with it on it? It's like, well, you could scrape it off. You can remove that app. But we're going to put it back in five minutes. So you better eat your steak fast. I mean, you better eat your steak quick. I'm just saying, see, this is what I mean. It's just ridiculous though. And we've got to get past this. Every time we update your drink, we're going to put more. We've got to quit being so predatory, right? Yeah, I agree. And I, anyway, and so what, what's the deal with Skype then? What do I do now? Um, don't worry about it.

[00:13:19] It'll go away on its own. It's on my computer today, like five versions. When was the last time you, realistically, Sam, when was the last time you used Skype? Oh, about a week ago. For reals? Yeah, because I do radio interviews and all the radio people want you to go on Skype because it's free. All right. When was the last time you used it in a business setting, not radio? Uh, five years ago, probably. All right. Same here. Well, probably not that long, but probably like three years. I don't use Skype. I don't like Skype. I hate it. I've always, well, I loved Skype until Microsoft took it over. Then I hated it. Yeah. And then they started doing the same thing with it, trying to build it into, uh, into

[00:13:48] Microsoft operating system and you could hardly get it out. And now I've got a bunch of versions of Skype, I think, and I don't even want them. Yeah. How can you, do you know how to get rid of them? Yeah. You can go and add remove programs and try to get rid of it that way. Will it come back? Maybe not. Maybe not now. Maybe not. Will it be part of the store? Probably for a while. If I try to run Skype, will it just launch the store version or the business version or my home version or the version that came with my PC that I never wanted?

[00:14:18] It's Skype roulette, Sam. You just roll the dice and you get whatever you want. Anyway, I know we're going on about this a little bit too long, guys. It's like, hey, beating a dead horse. But just so you know, Skype is indeed going away. So anything that you have that you depend on Skype for, you need to jettison. And if you're using an Outlook desktop client for Windows, then you understand the new one's coming. You're going to have to change on that too. There's another email client that's out. And I sent you a link for it. I was trying to look for it during the show, but I can't find it.

[00:14:47] I don't know if you remember it or not. I sent you one. You had said that you looked into how well it talked or not in any way. Yeah. For screen access, it doesn't talk very well, so I couldn't use it. But you're right. There's new. That one's gaining some traction. Well, think of it and post it or something. For good reason. Yeah. Right? Right. Because other than that, your alternative is Gmail on the web, basically. Or maybe Thunderbird. I mean, Thunderbird is the open source option, right? It's pretty decent. Yes.

[00:15:19] Anyway, I just find the whole thing so frustrating. So unnecessary, right? Why get rid of Skype at all? Why do all these things? Why make all these changes? Progress. To me, I don't think it's progress. I think most of it is just frustrating for the user. All right. Anyway, there you have it.

[00:15:46] So now Amazon is in the news, right? That's right. Amazon is going to introduce a new and improved Alexa experience called Alexa Plus. I guess they're kind of taking that from Walmart, maybe. Walmart Plus. The new Alexa. What does that even mean now? What's that? What does that even mean? It means you're going to spend more money on it if you want. Does that mean it's a new hardware piece? Or can my current devices upgrade to the Plus version or what? These are great questions, Sam. These are great questions.

[00:16:14] And we will have answers for you either in this show or a future one of that. Because it's complex. And this is what I mean. They've got to make things simple. I know it. But that's not. It's all about AI now, Sam. So the new Alexa is going to start at $19.99. $20 a month. And it's going to be. Wait a minute. Hold on a minute. I used to buy my Alexa for like $20, $30, $40, $50, $100 bucks. And I was good. Yeah. Not a one-time deal, right? But no, this is $20 a month.

[00:16:44] I'm not buying that. I think this is separate, though. Because it's going to be included for free with Prime subscribers. So this is only if you wanted Alexa Plus, but you don't want to pay for Prime. What do you mean it's going to be free for Prime subscribers? So I'm a Prime subscriber. Are they just going to send me an updated Alexa Plus unit? No, I don't think this is hardware. I think this is how the software interacts, right, on your Alexa. Whether you're going to have Alexa, the old dumb version, or Alexa, the new AI version. That's Alexa Plus. I just know that I have Prime. And I've got a bunch of Alexas from different generations.

[00:17:13] Because when I buy them, they're different every time. And so I've got several of them. And so what's going to happen to me? My guess, and just my take on it, is that all of your devices, if you have Prime, will just upgrade and get to Alexa Plus smarter Alexa. Well, I welcome smarter Alexa. There you go. Sure. It's going to be comparative with other generative AI chatbots on the market. Hey, Alexa, stop. Sorry, keep going. You said the A word too many times. We probably already have done that. We've triggered everybody's Alexa in the room by now.

[00:17:42] I'm sorry, people. Yeah. Beginning next month, Amazon's also launching the Alexa.com, a new web experience for long form work. So as well as a refreshed Alexa mobile app with a new interface. So basically, they're trying to get into this Gemini and DeepSeek and ChatGPT and compete with them. And they're going to have Alexa Plus. Well, they're going to have their own. What's theirs called? Alexa? It's going to be Alexa Plus. All right. So Alexa Plus is like ChatGPT.

[00:18:13] Yeah. Four syllables too. Alexa Plus, ChatGPT. Okay. Yeah. I'm glad that if it was five syllables, we could make a haiku out of the whole thing, couldn't we, Jay? Yeah, we could probably. We can do that anyway. Anyway, I just look at this and I go, I'm glad about that. When is it available to me? And how do I know if I have it? Well, the information I have doesn't have a release date on it. It's just coming soon. So it's vaporware coming soon.

[00:18:39] Well, we can't say it's vaporware until it vaporizes, right? Well, until I see it, it's vapor. Everything is potential vaporware, though. I mean, look at the canoe trucks. You know, they were electric vehicles. They were going to come out. They were really cool. I liked them. And now the whole thing's going bankrupt and probably not going to happen at all. Sad. So you can call that vaporware. Anyway, I don't know how to respond to all these changes and stuff. And I just find myself literally wishing for a simpler life in many ways, Jay.

[00:19:10] And the question becomes, you know, will people feel like that like me or will they just go along with this? At some point... No, they're going to go along with it. You think? Yeah. The problem is, Sam, you get too large of an experience. You're at middle age, whatever. You've seen. You remember DOS days and stuff. And so all of this, when you take advantage, you get too much of a mile-high view of everything. But if you're brand new, you're a teenager or a young adult coming on the scene, this is just normal.

[00:19:38] This is not like, oh, man, why have you guys went away from all the good? They don't even know about the good stuff. I put that in quotation marks because, you know, it depends on your perspective. So that's how it is. It's always changing. The only thing that's constant is change, right? And I support that. I guess I'm just saying that to me, change to simplicity and change to clarity and change to stability and change to... That's what I want to see. So right now, I'm just debating if I want to upgrade my iPhone.

[00:20:08] I've got a 13 or 14 or something, mini or I don't know what it's called. I'd have to look it up. And it's fine, but it's not very smart. Now, I can upgrade to the 16 and get... Or whatever it is, 17. I don't even know what it is now. I think the 15s and 16s will do it now. Get the AI version. Do I want that? Or does that just add complication to me? I don't know. Do I want to decide I don't even want a smartphone? I want to go to a dumber phone? No, you don't want that. I don't? No.

[00:20:38] I just know it's so complicated. I hate it. Half the time my phone goes off and I don't want it to. And Siri and Alexa just start asking. You know, they're invading every single conversation I have and they want to respond and get involved. They get in a fight. I don't want all that stuff. I just want to be left alone. To me, some of the best tech is low tech oftentimes, Jay. Sam, you don't want to be a digital curmudgeon. Come on. You got to embrace the new. I want to be a digital realist. Right.

[00:21:07] Which means I get new and I get movement. You don't want the tech to own you. Yeah. I want it to serve me. And right now it's trying to own me every time I turn around. And it's very difficult to navigate and very frustrating. And I think a lot of people are feeling this way, though, Jay. I don't think it's just me. I think people are starting to get what's the word I'm looking for? Burn out on it or whatever. They're just starting to be like, man. It's too hard to log into something. I don't even want to log in anymore.

[00:21:38] Right? Yeah. We see it all the time. Send a code. And then the code doesn't work or the email doesn't come. And you just get stuck on these things. They've got to work on having tech be stable and simple and clean and clear. And until they get that done, I think the frustration is just going to mount. And I think people are starting to decide they want less tech, not more. I think they're getting choosy about their tech because we have so many options. Just like television. That's right.

[00:22:05] When you have so many options, you can never even cover it all. Not even a fraction of it. You just start getting choosy about it. And for example, for myself, I never watch any network television. Like, I just don't. I watch a little bit of TikTok, some YouTubes, mostly like tutorial stuff or educational things. But the need or even desire to ever watch anything just stream down with commercials from a network just doesn't happen. And I think people are going to do the same with tech.

[00:22:33] Don't you watch some Amazon documentaries and some Amazon shows and stuff like that? I haven't watched anything on Amazon. The last thing I can remember watching on Amazon was their Lord of the Rings series, which they spent, I don't even know, like a billion dollars on, raised everybody's prime rates. And it wasn't even that good. Like, it wasn't even as good as the original movies. And they didn't spend that much on the movies as Amazon did on the series. So, no. I've even tried other stuff on Amazon and it just doesn't hit.

[00:23:01] I'd rather pay less for Prime and not have all that stuff, actually. But, you know, that's just me. Yeah, no, and I don't disagree. I agree. I'm just saying, you know, what, you know, the question becomes, what do you use? Do you use an Apple TV? Do you use a Fire Stick? Do you use a... I have a Roku TV and it has everything in it. But, like I said... Do you like the Roku players separate or the Roku TVs built in? I used to say I like the Roku players separate because you can move them around.

[00:23:27] But the last TV that I got is a decent TV and it's for probably years now. I don't even know, four years or something. It's had the Roku built in and it's continually updated and it works with all the different remotes, even if they're infrared or RF or whatever. And it seems to be a really good one. It's a Hisense 58. Even the phone remote, right? Yeah. And the phone remote, too. Yeah, exactly. So when you lose... We literally have probably eight remotes for this. You do, huh?

[00:23:56] And we still end up using the phone sometimes because you can't find a physical remote. But, yeah, I like it. I think it's pretty good. Anyway, I bring that up because I think people want simplification. And I don't think people want to back away from the advancements in tech. What I think they're getting burnt out on is the complications of tech. Everything is a security crisis. Everything is a complication. And anyway, folks, we will do our very best to get your arms around tech,

[00:24:26] to provide simple solutions, to let you know where the sweet spots are for advancement versus simplicity, to make sure tech does not own you, but tech serves you, okay? NBitechguys.com, spread the word about the podcast and the show, will you please? Would be greatly appreciative. You've got a friend in the IT business. NetworkProvidersInc.com. Hey, make it a great day, will you? Thanks.