[Update June 6]

Well.  I was wrong.  My Windows phone was updated to 8.1. That means Microsoft has abandoned a good chunk of their base.

[Update June 5]

It looks like that old Nokia Lumina is installing Windows Mobile 10 just fine.  I guess that’s good news — if I ever want to use it again.

I use Skype mostly for text messaging — mainly because their emoji set is outstanding.  I also use the service for occasional video calls.  Today, however, I experienced a Skype fail.  Allow me to elaborate. (Reminder: Skype is owned by Microsoft.)

We have an old Nokia Lumina Windows phone here.  I don’t think we’ve even booted it up for a year or so.  But today I got a disturbing e-mail from Skype.  Here’s what it said:

(click for larger image)

Well.  I had no idea what Windows Mobile version was running on our ancient phone.  As I type this, the phone is trying to scarf up enough juice to get the battery charged enough so it can download the update.  I gather Windows 10 is the current standard.  But it took a while to figure that out.

When I clicked the link in the e-mail I found my way to this:

Skype Info Level 1 (click for larger image)

That’s helpful.  Actually, not.  Confusing.  But there was that “more information” link.  Being a true techno-geek, I clicked it.  Here’s what I found (after groping around a bit):

Skype Info Level 2 (click for larger image)

Insanity.  Microsoft has become such a sclerotic behemoth that the company can’t keep its story straight from one page to another.