Option 2: Teachers and students can sign up for free web versions of Office 365. (Note that this is still in beta testing as of publication of this post.) Microsoft can guide them to enable Google sign-in for Office 365. Have your IT admin check out this page to sign up. Option 1: Schools can set up access to Office 365 with students’ and teachers’ school Google accounts. Students and teachers can log in with the same username and password. This is a service that lets you open a free online Office 365 account with your school Google account. Now, if you’re a Google school, there’s now a door that lets you cross from one camp to the other.

No one climbed up that wall to cross from one camp to the other. We’re frankly surprised it took Skype this long to catch up.For a long time, it's seemed like there were two big camps in educational tech - the Google camp and the Microsoft camp. Just create a link and send it to whoever you want to talk to. You’ll no longer need to manually add contacts and then start a chat with them. That means that by the end of the year, Skype will finally be as easy to use as Google Hangouts is. Microsoft says “the rest of the world” will be getting shareable links “over the next couple of weeks.”

The biggest limitation is of course the gradual rollout, which is likely aligned with Skype for Web’s staggered debut. That said, while the link initially takes you to Skype for Web, if you have Skype installed, the dedicated app will open on your computer or mobile device.

Skype for Web supports instant messaging, voice, and video calls.Ī link is really all you need - no Skype account or app download required. and in the U.K., for now.Īnyone can join the chat as a guest from their computer, even if they don’t have Skype installed. The only drawback is that links are only available in the U.S. Because it’s just a hyperlink, you can send it over email, Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, and so on.īy clicking on the link, anyone can join a conversation from Skype for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, or even Skype for Web. Once you’ve updated, click the +New button, and invite anyone to join a Skype chat by sharing the unique link.

Create skype account with google