"Microsoft has just released a new version of Skype for Linux, once again addressing many of the reported bugs, but also introducing some new features that certainly come in handy to those on the platform."
According to the official changelog, which you can read in the box at the end of the article, Skype 1.7 for Linux is still part of the alpha development stage, but it includes several important improvements, such as fixes for the reconnection of the app that occurred every once in a while when it was suspended for a longer time.
There were plenty of users who complained that Skype for Linux was reconnecting automatically when not using the app for a certain amount of time and Microsoft has already acknowledged the bug. This new version fixes the problem, so everything should work correctly after updating.
Additionally, Skype for Linux 1.7 introduces a new grid layout of the group calls, but also fixes the standard behavior of unread messages. According to Microsoft, this means that "when opening chat with unread messages, the view will focus on the first unread message and as you scroll, messages will be marked as read."
http://www.softpedia.com/blog/microsoft-officially-releases-skype-1-7-for-linux-508199.shtml
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday September 13 2016, @02:53AM
Likewise. It was especially nice when Hangouts chat client could be used with straight XMPP. The client was open then. It's closed now, but still better, and with a higher trust level (for me) than anything related to Microsoft.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday September 13 2016, @06:59AM
Depends. In terms of continued Linux support, I'd certainly trust Google more than Microsoft. In terms of privacy, until recently I would have trusted Microsoft, although lately they've done a lot to destroy that trust. However I definitely wouldn't trust Google on that.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.