Microsoft Releases Browser Friendly Skype

In a major web development, Microsoft has released a test version of Skype that lets people make Internet calls from web browsers, eliminating the need to install special applications.

In a blog post Microsoft said 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

Skype is used every day for more than two billion minutes of voice and video calling on the Internet, the US technology titan said.

Skype, which allows its online users to make high-quality calls to each other anywhere in the world for free, 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.

Skype was made available through free applications tailored for computers, smartphones, tablets and smart televisions.US software maker Microsoft bought Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion and built the service into Xbox One video game consoles.