The end of Skype Classic (or Skype 7, if you prefer) has been on the cards for a while now, much to the annoyance of legions of users. Microsoft has been keen to encourage Classic users to migrate to Skype 8, but many have held out. Now Microsoft is forcing their hands.
When the company announced that support for Skype 7 and below was terminating at the beginning of November, Microsoft said that "you may be able to use older versions for a little while". Three months down the line, Skype Classic users are being forced into upgrading to Skype 8.
People using the latest version of Skype Classic -- Skype 7.41.0.10101 -- are finding themselves greeted by a dialog box which gives them the option of either updating to Skype 8, or exiting Skype. There is no other option.
Microsoft's decision to force the upgrade on users is not going down well, but it seems there is no way to avoid it other than (as reported by BleepingComputer) downgrading to Skype 7.36.0.101 -- although this has to be downloaded from sources other than Microsoft.
