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posted by janrinok on Thursday August 09 2018, @12:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the pushing-back dept.

The death of Skype 7 (or Skype classic) has been delayed, following "customer feedback", according to Microsoft.

Microsoft originally announced on July 16 that classic Skype would be discontinued on Sept. 1, 2018 and encouraged users to upgrade to version 8.0. After many lamented the "upgrade" and clogged up the comments on the original discontinuation blog post, Microsoft have decided to continue supporting Skype 7 for "some time".

The message that was left on the original post, as reported by Microsoft blog Thurrott, was simple: "Thanks for all your comments - we are listening." A Microsoft spokesperson told CNET they have nothing more to share beyond the blog post at this time.

[...] It appears, for now, that Skype classic will continue being supported -- at least until Microsoft can transplant much-loved features to its updated version.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:19PM (10 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:19PM (#719411) Journal

    Windows is dead. It died a long time ago. I'm honestly surprised anyone is still using it. If anyone thinks they should still be using it, all they have to do is see how wishy-washy Microsoft is being with the support here. Way past time to get off of that sunk ship.
    BTW, "we are listening" has been a meaningless corporate catch phrase recently. Of course no one listens. Except for ways to make money. And that has not meant being generous to consumers in a long, long time.

    FTFY!

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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:58PM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:58PM (#719511) Homepage Journal

    From time to time I install Win2K under VirtualBox so I can get into my former consultancy's QuickBooks '99.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
  • (Score: 1) by waximius on Thursday August 09 2018, @06:29PM (6 children)

    by waximius (1136) on Thursday August 09 2018, @06:29PM (#719524) Homepage

    I don't agree that Windows is dead, but please, consider this a chance to convert someone over to your side. I'm actively looking for ways to get off of Windows, but *ahem* games keep me on the platform.

    I've been neck deep in *nix for decades, so I'm not a newcomer to what Linux and Mac can do.

    Here are my reasons for staying:
    1) Windows has the largest selection of PC games available, some exclusively on that OS.
    2) DirectX is pretty darn capable and widely supported by games.
    3) NVidia drivers on Windows + DirectX are the best combo for gaming that I've ever used. They just consistently work without intervention.

    If the gaming ecosystem and supporting hardware/software configurations were even remotely as good as Windows, I'd be off in a second. Am I wrong or can I get my needs met elsewhere? Give me a pathway, I'm not excited about Windows 10.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @07:52PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @07:52PM (#719564)

      It is a chicken or egg problem. Enough gamers use linux / macs / other OSes and you'll see developers support those platforms. Aside from WINE I don't think there is any good method of running windows only titles on linux, and WINE adds overhead and doesn't support newer software.

    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:55PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:55PM (#719645) Journal

      Yes: I've said it before...Windows is a gaming console.

      That said, I'm old, and I don't need the latest-greatest games.
      Unity of command is what I'm currently playing, works in Linux, good strategy game (perfect the blitzkrieg!)
      Old favourite: Total Annihilation, works in wine.
      Played a bit of quake a month ago.

      Don't really have time for 'gaming' anymore, though.
      I try to find a few games that are INDESPENSIBLE: I look at the games I've picked up in steam (some of them freebies) and I don't play half of them, more like 25% or less (probably less).

      I love a few games, the rest I find are 'pizazz and sizzle and fireworks' and I lose interest in them quickly.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:56PM (3 children)

      by Gaaark (41) on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:56PM (#719646) Journal

      Sorry, forgot to say: dual boot! Do work in Linux, play in Windows.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @01:35PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @01:35PM (#720958)

        > dual-boot

        I used to do this. It doesn't really work. The overhead of switching will keep you in one OS. Is playing games worth shutting all your work down and rebooting (and having to take action on reboot, to get Windows, then setting it all back up when you are done)? What about when Windows trashes your bootloader?

        The solution is have them both running at the same time, in virtual machines, with GPU pass-through (dedicated video card for each). This way, everything that can work in Linux, you do in Linux. For everything that only works in Windows, you use Windows.. and it is a button press away.

        This is also great as it makes testing cross-platform code really easy :)

        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday August 13 2018, @04:43PM (1 child)

          by tangomargarine (667) on Monday August 13 2018, @04:43PM (#721038)

          (and having to take action on reboot, to get Windows, then setting it all back up when you are done)?

          Setting all what back up? I just have a GRUB menu to pick one or the other. The most they interfere with each other is occasionally Windows insists on scanning my shared partition. Although a couple time I've had said partition (NTFS) get borked up enough that Linux gives me a "yeah I dunno man; guess you'd better let Windows fix this" popup when trying to mount it, I'm not sure who to blame that on.

          What about when Windows trashes your bootloader?

          That's why you install the Linux partition after the Windows.

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
          • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday August 13 2018, @04:47PM

            by tangomargarine (667) on Monday August 13 2018, @04:47PM (#721039)

            Although to be fair I have Windows 8.1. I bought the tower 2-3 weeks before Windows 10 came out, and am happy I did.

            The "fast startup" pseudo-shutdown-that's-actually-a-suspend is a thing you can disable so Windows just shuts down normally. Installing GRUB with UEFI wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

            --
            "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
  • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Thursday August 09 2018, @06:55PM (1 child)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Thursday August 09 2018, @06:55PM (#719539)

    I am aware of plenty of people using Windows, but I have not heard of anyone actually using Skype in a long time.

    Microsoft's support of Windows is indeed becoming quite wishy-washy. There have been plenty of stories about it here on soylentnews. It has become crystal clear recently that from now on Microsoft will at any point they choose arbitrarily end support for your computer hardware. They will add/remove whatever MAJOR features they feel like during any update at any time. Applications will break from any small random update or change (although they have been doing this one for a long time, the difference is now they honestly completely 100% don't give a shit). And you are no longer allowed to roll back "becuz securities!".

    Time to look seriously look at alternatives, but people still use it.

    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:59PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:59PM (#719647) Journal

      I've been off Windows since 1999 and haven't looked back...it's easier than you think unless you have niche software. Then I'd dual boot or virtual machine it.

      Kill the monkey and don't look back.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---