Skype users to be able to chat with anyone via direct links

Microsoft plans to make its VoIP sertvice Skype more broadly accessible, the software giant said yesterday, with a new feature that will allow users to invite anyone including those without a Skype account – to use the service via the Skype for web interface.

Invitees will not need to have to create an account or download an app, but can instead join a chat as a guest simply by clicking a link.

With the rollout, Skype is adding unique links that can be used to invite others to chats. Users can share the links in the manner they choose – in email, via apps like Facebook, Messenger, Twitter or WhatsApp, or anywhere else that makes sense.

Skype account holders using the Mac, PC or Web application will be able to create the link, which, on clicking will allow others, including those using Skype's mobile apps on iOS or Android and also non-users, to join in the conversation automatically.

Users without Skype accounts, will be able to sign in to a chat as a guest by typing in their name then clicking ''Join.''

According to Microsoft, the feature will come online for Skype users in the US and UK, and will be expanded to reach the rest of the world over the course of the next couple of weeks.

Users can check, if they have the option available, by launching the latest version of Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac, or Skype for Web, then clicking ''+New'' to start their chat and generate the unique, sharable link.

Skype had added a number of features, such as its universal translator, in order to lure users to the Skype app. It has also added conveniences to its web apps, to entice users to adopt Office. When users of Outlook.com, for example, receive a Word file, it will open in the Word Online app.

According to commentators, Micrsoft had not specified the number of Skype users it has, only saying that Skype users talk for 3 billion minutes per day.

However, Skype's supremacy is under threat from a number of other mobile apps. Commentators say what Skype had done was quite trivial on one level, but it was a convenience that could convince users to stay.

Early this month, Microsoft said introduced Skype Translator, enabling users to converse in a foreign language. (See: Microsoft launches Skype Translator)