Message from Microsoft 365

If you have a subscription to Microsoft 365, you recently received an email telling you Microsoft is discontinuing two programs. Since you probably don't use either one, you may not be concerned they are disappearing. But I'll mention them anyway. 

Skype

As a big fan of video conferencing, I loved Skype when it was new and magic, but that technology has grown into Microsoft's more sophisticated Teams program, so Skype is being retired. If you still use Skype, time to familiarize yourself with one of the other options: Teams, Meet, FaceTime, or Zoom. 

Publisher

For years, Microsoft included a program called Publisher in its software bundles, but only for Windows users. Now they are discontinuing it altogether. For whatever reason, Microsoft never fully embraced or marketed Publisher, despite it being a solid desktop publishing program. Yet now, with the popularity of AI-enhanced design programs like Canva and Adobe Express, Microsoft has re-created its design program as Designer, which is available for all users. Designer is not a new version of Publisher, which was great for long documents. Rather, like Canva and Express, Designer encourages users to combine text and images to create smaller documents like social media ads, flyers, brochures, and invitations. Microsoft also notes that its longtime signature software — Word and PowerPoint — also do some of the things Publisher used to do. If you have Publisher documents you wish to save, you will need to convert those files to PDF or Word before October 2026.