Skype is cross-platform and doesn't require you to upload your entire address book like Whatsapp. Though I use it mainly to call landlines in various countries with an unlimited subscription for that.
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Skype Brings Next-Generation Mobile Experience to Desktop in New Mac Preview
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Turned auto update feature off when the mobile update came out on my mac.
It became so confusing, so many things that I don't need at all. I can't even see who is online now unless I go one by one
It became so confusing, so many things that I don't need at all. I can't even see who is online now unless I go one by one
I've hated Skype all along, this makes it more of a reason for me not to look back. Discord is the Skype and Google Hangout killer! Now that it has video chat and screenshare support. It's a much better alternative.
Ew. Skype for iOS is terrible now. Couldn't figure out why I wasn't seeing my online contacts anymore. Now I understand that was intentional.
Yeah, but that is different to the current version and it isn’t always needed for professional use or personal use where the user would prefer the current system. To me they seem like different versions: modern ‘expressive’ Skype, normal Skype, and Skype for business. I don’t think the modern Skype should replace the current Skype version, at least not on PC/Mac. Maybe a compromise could be made, merging the two but not going as far as the new UI that is disliked by many.
I was about to describe how useless current iOS skype is but you guys basically kill it for me.
Microsoft is finished, their "innovation" is pathetic and end-user experience is a disaster. For me it seems that MS Dev team is not using tools they build - Skype and other MS tools are really difficult to understand and use.
The best for MS is just continue to copy Apple and Google... I like their surface keyboard (e.g. grey knock-off of Apple magic keyboard).
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Microsoft is finished, their "innovation" is pathetic and end-user experience is a disaster. For me it seems that MS Dev team is not using tools they build - Skype and other MS tools are really difficult to understand and use.
The best for MS is just continue to copy Apple and Google... I like their surface keyboard (e.g. grey knock-off of Apple magic keyboard).
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It is a heritage of users BEFORE Microsoft bought it... I am long standing user of original skype. With Microsoft "innovation" I am switching asap to whatever alternative is now available. iOS version is basically unusable for me.
I have used skype as my only phone service for ten years.
The ui has been steadily getting worse for years. At some point, someone at MS needs to remind themselves that Skype is a VoIP service.
Numberpad
Contacts
Call log
Voicemail
Preferences
See if you can make a coherent, reliable ui to do those first.
The ui has been steadily getting worse for years. At some point, someone at MS needs to remind themselves that Skype is a VoIP service.
Numberpad
Contacts
Call log
Voicemail
Preferences
See if you can make a coherent, reliable ui to do those first.
What the hell, why would anyone want to have their chat program in full screen?
I loved Skype at version 2.8, then I'm sure they hired new designers cause it just got more and more and more bloated every month.
I loved Skype at version 2.8, then I'm sure they hired new designers cause it just got more and more and more bloated every month.
I've been to a meetup with one of the UX guys of skype. Boy was he some piece of stuff.
Exactly! Nail on the head.
The way they are edging it towards being another social media app is insane.
All I want to do is make a VOIP call… or a Video call… nothing fancy.
Work on giving me a simple to use interface.
Easy access to my address book… and a good and stable connection.
End of. *sigh*
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Very true.
If only more UX designers held on to this very simple concept: "Just because you can doesn't mean you should…"
An even better alternative, for precisely all the reasons detailed in this thread, would be if people started using open standards that are orthogonal to an individual vendor or application (and are a tad more secure than Skype, maybe).
That way, when one application starts to suck (notice how I used the word "when", not "if"), it could be promptly replaced with another without hassle, just like web browsers - remember the pre-Safari days when the ageing Carbon IE5 was preloaded on every Mac? Oh, the horror.
This way, good, old-fashioned competition would prevent **** like this to be viable in the first place.
Unfortunately, for some reason, we have learned the habit to go from one crappy application and related proprietary protocol to another - and stay with it until it gets really unbearable.
My God... make it stop.
I'm not buying a 27" screen to see the same white space ratio as I do on my phone.
Speaking of white space and stretched phone interfaces... When is this dreadful design concept ending on iPad?
I love smartphones, but I hate their influence on devices that lack the limitations that force smartphones to pack as few elements on-screen as they do.
Speaking of elements on screen, when did UX become so over-nested?
Hamburgers, slide-outs and pull-downs everywhere! Always loved in combination with as few actually interesting items to pick as possible.
The day this fad dies will be a happy and a sad one.
Sad, because you know that the betterment too will only be a "fad" that will scoot over for the next hyped thing that inherently will likely have to be a worse, but -oh hey at least- different "new" concept.
Glassed Silver:win
I'm not buying a 27" screen to see the same white space ratio as I do on my phone.
Speaking of white space and stretched phone interfaces... When is this dreadful design concept ending on iPad?
I love smartphones, but I hate their influence on devices that lack the limitations that force smartphones to pack as few elements on-screen as they do.
Speaking of elements on screen, when did UX become so over-nested?
Hamburgers, slide-outs and pull-downs everywhere! Always loved in combination with as few actually interesting items to pick as possible.
The day this fad dies will be a happy and a sad one.
Sad, because you know that the betterment too will only be a "fad" that will scoot over for the next hyped thing that inherently will likely have to be a worse, but -oh hey at least- different "new" concept.
Glassed Silver:win
The only problem is that open standards usually sucks, sadly. Creating a great product is not easy, and usually companies and capitalism is needed.
Usually creating a truly innovate product is very hard, capitalism or not.
Didn't stop anyone from trying their best at Apple when they made the first iPod, the first portable computer with WiFi, didn't make Daimler stop coming up with the automobile, etc etc...
Point is, open standards whilst technically lacking sometimes often are a much more enduring and worthwhile approach.
Look, I can have email addresses from 20 years ago and provided the service/server is still up, I'll probably get to write my contact.
That's a primary concern in communication: reliability and compatibility...
That's why I always loved multi-messengers, they made things a little more open, now look around, how many of the latest and hippest messengers do even support being accessed by apps other then their own ones?
What happens when Discord goes down? Ironically the fix is that to stay in touch with people who matter to you you'll end up exchanging details like phone numbers or email addresses, because that stuff sticks around a little better.
Man, makes me feel old again... I wish people had some foresight and shutting off APIs wouldn't fly as well as it does in today's world.
Apparently people love having to open 20 apps to check their messages. I just want one buddy list and my messages. The service should be a detail, not the gateway in terms of GUI experience.
Personal opinion obviously and I know that I'm in the minority. The popularity of the trillion apps for the same thing concept is not unknown to me as I just pointed out.
Glassed Silver:win
I don't know, man.
E-mail, the WWW, HTML, GSM and UMTS, 802.11x, MPEG for video (including h264, h265 and the like) don't appear to suck terribly hard to me - not any more than RealVideo or ASF (remember it?).
Are you trying to tell me that competition is not at the very core of capitalism and/or that 802.11 is a Soviet standard?
In fact, most IEEE standards are agreed upon by mostly Fortune 500 companies in an expensive and lengthy process...
I'd go as far as saying that anyone who is serious about capitalism must be serious about open standards.
Also, surely if you don't bear Soviet sympathies you can't possibly like the idea of insecure, buggy, security-through-obscurity protocols through which everyone and his dog can spy your communications...
Which is a fantastic example, since... remember those other players, the ones that would only play proprietary audio formats like ATRAC, WMA or RealAudio?
No?
You're not alone
I'd be okay with 40 windows if only half of them they bothered to follow the host system's user interface guidelines and design language...
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Whatever gave them the idea that ANYONE would want to use Skype as a full screen application? I need it to get out of my way and be there, as compact as possible, when I need to send a message. I've walked away from Skype several times already, but I'm now temporarily forced to use it because one client uses it for their communication. It has already proven itself as slow and unreliable as it has always been, but that new UI looks scary. I may have to dedicate one laptop just for skype so I can get some work done. Or tell the client to keep their stuff, it's not worth the trouble.
"next generation"?
...oh please Louise. Why do I feel like the target for an advertisement? When did MS ever release anything "next generation" ?
...oh please Louise. Why do I feel like the target for an advertisement? When did MS ever release anything "next generation" ?
The latest skype update for iOS Version gets shockingly bad reviews all over the app store. Pinoy Tambayan
Back when Skype was lightweight and functional. Even an iBook G4 could handle those older versions, no problem at all.What the hell, why would anyone want to have their chat program in full screen?
I loved Skype at version 2.8, then I'm sure they hired new designers cause it just got more and more and more bloated every month.
Just had a chance to try the preview version. As expected, it looks like someone took an iPad app, and added a couple things like mouse-over menu buttons. Abysmal UI for desktop, and it makes me laugh that suddenly Windows 98-style bold fonts and horizontal gradients are trendy again.