August 29, 2003 is a day that changed the world of communication, or so says a certain Microsoft-owned communication service. It’s impact is compared to the creation of the telephone and the mobile phone as it continues to revolutionize how we communicate over the Internet. It’s up to the individual to decide if Skype really is that special.

Either way, Skype turned nine-years-old today. The company saw fit to celebrate with a congratulatory pat on the back blog post exclaiming how far they’ve come. To be fair, Skype has come along way since their humble beginnings.

Skype has grown from an exclusive desktop application to an application that appears on everything, including the wide range of Android and iOS devices. Their success led to a successful purchase of the company by Microsoft in 2011. Now they’re hitting over 250 million active users per month.

The service hasn’t reached this point in its life without hitting a few obstacles along the way though. Just last month, Skype was being accused of funneling private conversations to law enforcement. The company outright denied those claims, but some people still view them being owned by Microsoft as only a bad thing for the privacy of users.

Birthdays are never a time to focus on the bad. To help celebrate their birthday, the folks at Skype created a huge infographic that charts the company’s history from its founding in 2003 to the present day. You might even find yourself learning more about Skype than you ever thought possible.