View source for Microsoft Rolls Out Skype For Web Browsers

Microsoft on Friday released a test version of Skype that lets people make Internet calls from web browsers, eliminating the need to install special applications.<br><br>"It's perfect if you prefer using the web rather than an app: perhaps you're sitting at a computer that doesn't already have Skype downloaded," Microsoft said in a blog post.<br><br>"Or maybe you're on the go and using an Internet cafe or hotel computer whilst on vacation where you can't download Skype at all."<br><br>A Microsoft and Skype sign hangs on stage at a news conference about the purchase of Skype on May 10, 2011 in San Francisco, California ©Justin Sullivan (Getty/AFP/File)<br><br>Skype for Web will be available to a small number of existing users at first and will be rolled out globally in the coming months, according to Microsoft.<br><br>Skype is used every day for more than two billion minutes of voice and video calling on the Internet, the US technology titan said.<br><br>Skype was launched in August 2003 by two [http://Www.Fool.com/search/solr.aspx?q=Scandinavian%20technology Scandinavian technology] entrepreneurs, Niklas Zennstroem of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark, who expanded on existing peer-to-peer networking technologies.<br><br>Skype, which allows its online users to make high-quality calls to each other anywhere in the world for [https://medium.com/@btvcnetwork/skype-alternative-for-making-free-online-video-calls-6d1f21fad846 free online video calls], quickly took off, bringing the world closer together in an age when globalization and intercontinental travel pulled more families apart than at perhaps any other time in history.<br><br>Skype was made available through free applications tailored for computers, smartphones, tablets and smart televisions.<br><br>US software maker Microsoft bought Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion and built the service into Xbox One video game consoles.