Save Your Skype Qik Messages Now

In what can be considered a good news-bad news situation -- depending on whether you really like Skype or enjoyed using the video messaging service Qik -- Microsoft has added video messaging to Skype and the Skype app.

This is good news for Skype users and anyone who wants an all-in-one messaging app. But for Qik users, the new is less good: Skype Qik is shutting down as a standalone app as of March 24, 2016. Microsoft cautions:

Please make sure to save any special messages you may want to keep before March 24th. After this date, you will no longer be able to send or receive messages.

Qik had a long and lively history: It started as a company that brought streaming video to social media sites back in 2007; Skype purchased it for $150 million in January 2011; In May, 2011, Microsoft announced it would purchase Skype for $8.5 billion; in April 2014, Skype shut down Qik as a standalone service; in October 2014, Microsoft launched Skype Qik as a multiplatform video messaging service.