back to article Congrats, Linux users – you're finally officially alpha males... on Skype

Microsoft-owned Skype today released a new Linux client that hopes to address some of the complaints users have had with the chat app for months. The VoIP giant says the new alpha build of the Skype-for-Linux software can make and receive Skype calls from people running the latest OS X and Windows Skype clients and the alpha …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All the Glory in the Wrong Place?

    "Penguinistas offered olive branch by Microsoft"

    And not even a mention of the Googlites that increased the pressure on M$ to a jovian-atmosphere to do so?

    How bloody rude!

  2. Badger Murphy

    @Skype UI

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... oh, you're serious.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: @Skype UI

      HAHAHAHAHA...Hilarious...

  3. Chris Hills
    Thumb Down

    Cheap

    The app appears to be the skype web client bundled up with nw.js (aka node-webkit). I would hardly call it a commitment to Linux.

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

      Re: Cheap

      I imagine their minds might be hanged if they get more paying customers through it.

      I can't see an issue with web apps, I used to be a Q10 user on BB10 so that's all us BB10 users got on the rare occasion an app was made available.

  4. israel_hands

    thanks to the addition of support for the Chrome browser.

    I think you mean Chromium.

    Or you could just use Firefox Hello, no need for an MS account that way. Nor fucking around with a flaky alpha build. I suppose it's natural Linux would get an alpha though, most everything they release on Windows (and now Windows itself) seems to be a permanent beta test.

  5. Gray
    Windows

    Tin Can & String

    No video calls? No calls to landline user? No connect with earlier Linux version? Alpha version? Hell ... why not just call it what it is: a tin can system with a soggy string! Perhaps a pass is in order.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Tin Can & String

      Yet more reason don't regret going the MagicJack route. Grandfathered in for $20 a year unlimited everything and simply plugged in the little raspberry pie like device a few years ago, plugged in the cat 5 to router and the RJ45 for our existing cordless phones, and had to do nothing since.

    2. PNGuinn
      Joke

      Re: Tin Can & String

      Obligatory:

      Yew 'ad soggy string?

      Wen I were a lad we'd ...

      'An our dad ...

      As fer'd tin can ... Yew 'ad tin ...

      Just thought I'd bring an erudite comment to the party.

      As someone said earlier ... Hahahahaha....

  6. TVU Silver badge

    Well at least they are updating it after years of neglect and I expect to see a fully stable version in due course. Again, this is yet another sign that Microsoft now has no choice but to deal with Linux (whether it likes it or not).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Embrace, extend and extinguish

      See title

      1. Geoffrey W

        Re: Embrace, extend and extinguish

        Ummmm, exactly what are they going to extinguish?

        Never mind, Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish sounds suitably evil. And Slurp IS evil, make no mistake.

        1. PNGuinn
          Trollface

          Ummmm, exactly what are they going to extinguish?

          Themselves with any luck ...

  7. Mage Silver badge
    Devil

    2nd bad thing

    Careful what you wish for on Linux. Windows Skype got so bad and such a resource hog I went to QQ. Sadly on Linux that only has a Chinese version I can't get working.

    So what is cross platform, doesn't need a browser (or a server that might be spying on you), can do text, files, voice, video in any combination?

    I don't want it based on desktop sharing etc like Teamview.

    Going backwards

    Skype used to be good (though a supernode was bad for unwary with fast good connection bu low cap), then eBay bought it. First bad thing.

    Second bad Thing

    It's gone downhill since MS bought it.

    1. israel_hands

      The product you've been searching for

      So what is cross platform, doesn't need a browser (or a server that might be spying on you), can do text, files, voice, video in any combination?

      It's called meeting someone in person.

    2. DonL

      Re: 2nd bad thing

      "So what is cross platform, doesn't need a browser (or a server that might be spying on you), can do text, files, voice, video in any combination?"

      Matrix.org in combination with vector.im clients looks very promising.

      It's open-source and works fully distributed (so people can run their own server if they want).

      It provides whatsapp and skype-like functionality. And it can even bridge to IRC.

      I have been using it for some time and it works very well.

      1. DropBear

        Re: 2nd bad thing

        Matrix.org in combination with vector.im clients looks very promising.

        It may look interesting but why is it "rooms" based? What I have is a list of contacts, not a list of favourite IRC channels...

        1. DonL

          Re: 2nd bad thing

          "It may look interesting but why is it "rooms" based? What I have is a list of contacts, not a list of favourite IRC channels..."

          When you privately chat with someone it's technically/transparently done in a room. The client takes care of this so you don't really notice it and it doesn't matter in practice. Also it has nothing related with IRC unless you explicitly choose to join an IRC channel. It's a feature/bridge, not a dependency.

    3. pyite

      Re: 2nd bad thing

      > So what is cross platform, doesn't need a browser (or

      > a server that might be spying on you), can do text, files,

      > voice, video in any combination?

      HP MyRoom may be good for some of these, but probably not all.

      > It's gone downhill since MS bought it.

      Next software that they are going to murder: MineCraft! They already dropped Linux from any new releases. I'm sure the goal is to get the MineCraft hackers off Java/Elipse and on to Visual Studio/.NET eventually.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 2nd bad thing

        Pidgin? It's got a QQ plugin...don't know if it's any good.

        1. Mage Silver badge

          Re: Pidgin QQ

          I don't thnk it has supported QQ for ages, QQ changed API

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Teamviewer

      That's gone downhill in a big way recently

      TV stops working unless you pay £29.90 per month yet their web site still proclaims that it is free for personal use. So why did TV-11 stop working for me then and told me that my trial had expired.

      If I am wrong then I'll hold my hands up and accept it but I have a PC that exhibits this sitting on my desk at this very moment.

      1. Ikkabar

        Re: Teamviewer

        Uninstall it. Re-install it and make sure you only select personal use. You seem to have it set up as a Business version.

  8. Tromos
    Joke

    An added bonus

    It includes the first Linux version of GWX.

    1. quxinot

      Re: An added bonus

      Don't even joke about that.

      I'm kinda lost as to why I'd want to use a product that I don't like, by people that I don't like, to talk to people that I don't like, as inefficently as I can manage--but it seems that some get excited about this sort of thing.

      Email: Cutting "Um..." out of communication since I was born....

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    aww bless

    people still use Skype??

    It's compression algorithms are ancient. I can have a 6 person video chat in Google Hangouts offering better quality and less bandwidth than a 1 to 1 video chat in Skype.

    People really need to let the past go.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: aww bless

      That might be true but remember that everything you say on Hangouts will be recorded by Google and fed into its AI. IMHO, it won't be long before you will be getting adverts based upon what you were discussing a few minutes ago.

      Remember that Google wants, sorry NEEDS to know everything about you, your business, your contact, your Life so that it can sell it to the Ad slingers.

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: aww bless

        That might be true but remember that everything you say on Hangouts will be recorded by Google and fed into its AI.

        The same is true for Microsoft's Skype which is why they can offer real time translations and stuff. I stopped using Skype after dropped the old logins.

        I don't use Hangouts much have found it's video and audio to be very impressive. The ad stuff / AI stuff is going into the new "Allo" chat client which, while scary, looks like a good way to make use of the Google Now stuff. Not that I'll be using it.

        For messaging and calls I use Signal and Wire and TeamViewer for screensharing.

      2. nijam Silver badge

        Re: aww bless

        > ... but remember that everything you say on Hangouts will be recorded by Google and ...

        ... everything on Skype *isn't* recorded by Microsoft?

        It must be lovely to be so optimistic.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: aww bless

        And Microsoft don't do that too???? Are you really stupid enough to think they pass up free money???

        They do it too, but like everything else at Microsoft , just nit as good as others.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: aww bless

      Ask the person in the street if they know what Skype is. Then same question for google hangouts.

  10. pyite

    First thing they did when buying Skype was...

    They broke the desktop sharing by limiting the Linux client to an ultra-low resolution (160x100 maybe?) -- and then scaled this up to the window size. It was too blurry to be usable for anything.

    The workaround was to keep using the older client -- but after two years they stopped letting the older version connect to their network.

    Recently, WebEx discontinued their Linux support (their main advantage over e.g. GoToMeeting... @#$^#$^).

    The only two good cross-platform desktop sharing programs -- gone. However, it looks like there is a good one called HP MyRoom... anyone know how well it works?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Skype? Would that be the dying, formerly peer-to-peer, client that went to a central server the instant Microsoft bought it? That turned a useful single bar of contacts + chat window (when you started one) into a non-resizeable monstrosity? Also killed 3rd party access for those running different chat clients?

    Only now being offered to linux?

    "Too little too late" doesn't seem enough, somehow. Go fuck yourself, Microsoft. Dry.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I belied that was happening as MS was buying it. From what I remember sky had turned to crap on Linux- before MS bought them MS bought a dying company and accelerated it's death.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I remember the central server thing happening after the sale. I could easily be wrong; because I'm working from what claims to be a memory. I'm going to blame Microsoft anyway.

  12. Jassop

    Why do you assume all Linux users are male?

    If you had worked in a pun about Skype being a replacement for "Mail" it could maybe have worked...

  13. JulieM Silver badge

    Not Impressed

    Give me the Source Code, then I'll think about installing it.

    1. JulieM Silver badge

      Re: Not Impressed

      To those who downvoted me: Would you like a slice of this delicious-looking cake? Only catch is, I'm not going to tell you what ingredients are in it.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VSee

    VSee works much better than Skype ever did, runs on windows and under wine on a newish Debian for me. Quality is high and bandwidth is tiny.

  15. Thatguyfromthatforum

    Jitsi + bleep

    Surprised no one has mentioned bit torrent bleep, this works quite nicely under wine for file sharing and voice calls. Also jitsi which can be used for video calls and is cross platform? Failing that viber does work under wine too, it just means having the Chinese spy on you vs the 5 eyes.

  16. Avatar of They
    WTF?

    Lol, MS don't even run it on xbox 360 last time I looked (When the xbox one was launched) so now they support Linux. Will pass thanks.

    However, WTF is that picture all about? What does that even represent. It's like a weird German version of the BBC test card.

  17. picturethis
    Stop

    Sorry, the first Cold day in hell hasn't arrived yet...

    Where I would install a binary from MS on any of my linux boxes for which the source code isn't published. Especially one that requires root to install (not sure if it does or doesn't, but I really don't care).

    I have no, absolutely no, trust of anything MS does, says or delivers. Period. That corporation has continually and consistently demonstrated that it can not be trusted.

    (PS - why do you think it took them so long to get a release out? Pure speculation: - so that they could get the tele-metrics working?.. All in the name of "helping to serve you better". Their crap is so deep, it's endless)

  18. Alan Brown Silver badge

    saw it, tried it, uninstalled it

    You can only tolerate so many retrograde steps

  19. This post has been deleted by its author

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