Microsoft made a promise earlier this year to deliver a preview of Skype's real-time translation tool for everyone to use and today, they are delivering on their words. The company has announced today that a preview of Skype's real-time translation software is available for Windows 8.1 users who signed up for the Skype Translator preview here.
While Microsoft showed off a German real-time translation earlier this year, the preview is limited to Spanish and English for voice chat. But, for those of you who prefer to message each other with Skype, over 40 languages are supported.
Even though this is an early iteration of the tool, it is quite easy to see how this service is extremely valuable. Being able to chat in real-time with anyone around the world without having to worry about the language barrier is game-changing.
This piece of technology will likely become one of Microsoft's premier pieces of technology as it is often said that technology should get out of the way of the conversation if it is truly innovative and in this case, Skype is making conversations possible that previously, could not happen.
As the team expands the available languages for real-time conversations, the tool will grow exponentially in value. While Skype has had its fair share of issues in the past, this new tool shows the power of the platform and helps to justify why Microsoft bought the messaging platform for $8.5 billion.
Source: Microsoft
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