

The company combined Lync (formerly Microsoft Office Communicator), its enterprise communications platform, with Skype's familiar user interface (UI) to create software that's easy to use and has features businesses need. With Microsoft Skype for Business (which begins at $2 per user per month, with additional fees), Microsoft is closing the gap. Despite its advantages, however, Skype is very much a consumer video conferencing and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service, and not a business one. The service makes it effortlessly easy to call other users and video chat. When it comes to online communications, Skype is the de facto method.


