[IVDV]

When an industry is so reliant on one service, it's very difficult to shift an entire industry to a new platform. Segmentation is a real thing.

A good example I'm familiar with is within electronic sports (competitive video-games): almost every executive, player, personality, etc has been using Skype since ~2010. Unfortunately, Skype has a large number of security vulnerabilities and users can be subjected by DDOS attacks- which is especially important if such an attack impacts their performance in a game, or interrupts a livestream. Even though there are, arguably, better products being created that serve the same purpose as Skype and that don't fall victim to this problem (Discord, Slack), those within the industry don't want to segment themselves from everyone else.

[huac]

What you're thinking of is product lock-in, not segmentation.

Besides, many superior solutions exist and have for a long time: TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, Mumble. Skype is laggy, buggy, and high memory overhead, without mentioning the DDOS risk (exposes IP).

[IVDV]

Thanks for the correction.

Truthfully I would not consider TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, or Mumble as a superior solution. The benefit of Skype has always been that it dod not require joining more than one server. In the article example, consider the line about individuals having their Yahoo username on their badge.

[cookiecaper]

This problem could be solved if we fixed our tech access and intellectual property laws. The constricting elements of the online network effect only exist because we have laws that grant artificial monopolies. The only reason that Discord and/or Slack and/or OtherAlternative can't make it seamless is because Microsoft/Skype would likely file a lawsuit. While there are hairy intellectual property issues at play here, MS's best vein of attack would be the CFAA, which would almost certainly criminalize something like Slack connecting to Skype's network to offer an adapter/bridge between the two networks.

People comment on the queer nature of this phenomenon frequently but seemingly fail to understand that it's that way because We The People made up laws dictating that it should be that way. There is no deprivation of either possession or use of property here, so why did we make this illegal? Let's fix the problem and allow true competition, instead of protecting lumbering incumbents.

[btown]

And, for those unfamiliar with how crazy the CFAA can get, look no further than https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Swartz

[elevensies]

Another issue is that asking someone to install a malware'd VOIP client is also a common scam: https://www.google.com/search?q=teamspeak+scam