I'd love to use Skype, but.......

This could be a rant, but I'd prefer not to do that, at least not yet.

A while back Skype asked permission for a major update - fine - and now requires me to have a microsoft account before it will give me access to the software. Not so fine. There's usually an escape route with this kind of arrangement, but this particular update doesn't seem to allow it, and rather than dig through trying to find a way to use skype, I'm simply not going to bother. I don't want to use it badly enough to create a microsoft account.

It's sad that, after so long, big tech companies don't get that users don't want to be the product. It's not as if I hadn't needed to sign up for a skype account anyway, so why make me jump through more hoops and sign further license agreements? I'll keep Skype on the Macbook because that still works without the faff (and without upgrading).