Remathilis
Legend
I apologize for the pedantry, but it is germane to the point. You never played a Basic D&D game with skills. There never was one. The RC is not Basic D&D. It is an entirely complete and complex game. The RC is Classic D&D, but during its publication life there was actually a separate product called Basic D&D, that served as an introduction to the complete game in the RC, and which did not have skills.
Their whole point in this Basic/Standard/Advanced breakdown is if you want the Basic game and skills, you use the Standard game and pare away the rules you don't want to use. (I suspect how it'll actually go is if you buy the Basic product and a DDI account, you can access the Skills Module off of a 5e Rules Compendium.) The Basic game is targeted at people who don't need or want skill mechanics.
This is boarding on pedantry, but he's right.
There were two games TSR put out; Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Since the latter had the "Advanced" moniker, most used the "Basic" name to distinguish it.
The Basic game, as TSR defined it in the RC era was the All New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons game, which only dealt with the first five levels of the D&D game. It also lacked proficiencies, weapon mastery, and even ability checks.