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.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 09 2018, @12:42PM (3 children)
Well I'll be damned. Listening to customers is somewhat unusual for any big tech company and downright unheard of from Microsoft.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:39PM
That's not true. They hear, record and pass it on to the government and advertisers all the time. Why do you think they needed the new APIs in the first place? They make hooking up an AI to skype for running bots and surveillance AIs all the easier.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:29PM (1 child)
This was probably in response to the NSA's concerns that people would abandoned Sype. Gotta keep some people happy all the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @07:49PM
Was gonna say the same thing, they want to retain their customers so as usual just a selfish move by M$ et all.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:43PM (2 children)
Micro$oft lies. Often. "Security", for users, includes DRM to keep users secure from being accused and punished for any alleged piracy, and OOXML is an "open" format, and users have a choice of web browsers. M$ "documentation" is loaded with marketing propaganda, FUD, and omissions of useful API functions.
In the 1990s, tobacco companies pioneered the current style of "doubt is our product" propaganda. It has since expanded. Madoff's Ponzi scheme, Countrywide and the housing bubble, "Too Big to Fail" banks....
We have this "alternative facts" and "fake news", with more and wackier conspiracy theories than ever, and the whole mainstream media turns a blind eye to a lot of things.
Politicians routinely name bills and laws the opposite of what they really do. This infection has reached the Oval Office.
I've been wondering for some time now when all this lying is going to catch up with us. And, whether current times have above average levels of dishonesty, or has there always been a steady level of lying?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:34PM
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:50PM
The current level of lying is unpresidented.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Thursday August 09 2018, @02:28PM (12 children)
Skype 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.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:19PM (10 children)
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!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:58PM
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)
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
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
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)
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)
> 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)
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.
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
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)
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
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 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:33PM
Except in the case of Skype it's a TLA that's making that claim ;-)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @02:35PM (1 child)
Just saw a note that another Gmail update is coming soon, with option to revert to "classic". If this is anything like the last Gmail update (which reduced/removed functionality that I used), I'm likely to stick with the current version as long as possible. But what I'd really like is to go two versions back, before the annoying pop-up compose window appeared.
What is is with software companies reducing functionality in new versions?
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:50PM
Adding new features or maintaining existing features is not profitable. At the same time, not looking "new" and "trendy" at least a few times a year looses sales.
End result: Re-arrange things, remove functionality, and add "simpler, easier to use" as a marketing bullet point.
I remember back in the 80s and 90s, any company who did that would usually quickly wind up as roadkill, and many did. Magazine reviews would criticize, readers would take it seriously, and real money was lost.
Of course, back then people paid big bucks for computer products and services rather than put up with "free" advertisement ridden, personal info mining malware.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:00PM
What are people using these days instead of Skype? [alternativeto.net]
My quick internet search turned up Ring, [fsf.org] Signal, [signal.org] Tox, [fsf.org] and Wire [fsf.org] as potential replacements; anyone with experience using them care to share your impressions?
What other Free-Software options would you lot recommend?
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:01PM (4 children)
I am not kidding, almost every update I accept these days is a regression. Useful features are removed, menu layouts are changed, while it gets slower and stuff like white space and large pointless images are added.
There is something seriously wrong with the software dev community. I suspect its the reliance on AB testing, which is just NHST. That's the method for interpreting data that destroyed education research, sociology, and psychology. Other fields like Medical research are now 90+% worthless, and it looks like physics is on the brink of allowing this BS to dominate (currently its still just one part of the analysis). So, why not let it destroy software development as well?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:32PM
The problem is that they are focusing one adding things I personally don't give a shit about, but are trendy: more white space, more flatness, more social media, more crypto-currency-harvesting-in-the-background ...
I use one function in skype: Video-calling my mom. Just that. The client from 15 years ago did that, and she got used to it. Any GUI change done ever since has just made this very fundamental and basic function less central, which is pretty fucking dumb.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:34PM
Every UI decision is being driven by the use of teeny screens on phones and the use of thumbs
because that where the sheeple are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @07:55PM (1 child)
Sometimes I wonder how much malware has infected my PC due to my lack of updates. It is a sad state of affairs when you distrust vendor updates enough to avoid them. If I have gotten anything it has been pretty innocuous, but then again I don't frequent the same places as jmorris >:P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @01:42AM
You sound like the sort of person who frequents the TSA check-in lines. You may have no intentions of flying, but you'll drive to the airport to get into a queue to be groped.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:25PM
Is this actual Skype we're talking about, or "Skype for Business," AKA "We're Not Lync, We're Exploiting Name Recognition For The Other Thing We Bought But Haven't Finished Driving Into The Ground Yet"?
We can't even have a conversation about how much Microsoft sucks donkey balls without getting into an argument about what we're even talking about in the first place. I swear these guys are having an interdepartmental running contest to see who can come up with the most shit names for things.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"