
Skype for Windows is broken - zatkin
https://medium.com/@zg/skype-for-windows-is-fundamentally-broken-and-nobody-is-doing-anything-to-fix-it-bc064a50094e
======
adrtessier
"Skype for Windows takes advantage of Internet Explorer and Flash to display
advertisements in the client. This means that in order for advertisements to
work correctly, Internet Explorer and Flash need to be working correctly."

As if Skype spying on you wasn't enough, requiring mshtml.dll and Flash this
now makes Skype a malware vector from compromised ad networks.

This seems especially bad for IT environments where Internet Explorer is not
the primary browser due to "security" and has Flash built-in (like Chrome used
to) or disabled, so any outdated version of Flash attached to IE becomes an
unpatched vulnerability possibly outside of IT package management scope.

There are other good videoconferencing/call solutions today. I see no reason
to install Skype anymore. I personally have not used it in years. (FWIW, I
also haven't used Windows as my primary operating system since the days of
XP.)

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
Most medium sized professional environments aren't utilising Skype, they're
utilising an entirely different product called, uhh, Skype (Lync), but it
doesn't show ads and is a completely different product with Skype branding
(even the executable is still Lync.exe).

~~~
adrtessier
Thanks for the correction; I didn't know this existed and that's somewhat
comforting. I guess my point still stands for personal users of Skype, small
businesses and startups.

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
Oh definitely. You're right on base, it is a massive concern.

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panarky
In the old days, people paid for cable TV so they could avoid ads. Now you pay
for cable and get ads too.

I pay for Skype, but they think they can bombard me with annoying, irrelevant
ads anyway. And now the ads actually break Skype itself. Unacceptable.

I'm now blocking Skype ads by editing the hosts file. More info here:
[https://gist.github.com/eyecatchup/ba7dc7a50d90cbf6377d](https://gist.github.com/eyecatchup/ba7dc7a50d90cbf6377d)

~~~
AjithAntony
> In the old days, people paid for cable TV so they could avoid ads. Now you
> pay for cable and get ads too.

Cable TV was invented to distribute tv to areas where antenna reception was
not possible. It was just regular channels rebroadcast with the same
commercials. Superstaions emerged like TBS that were once local channels but
now became regional and then national cable channels. Still with commercials.
Premium channels like HBO and showtime were the only commercial free stations
and you paid extra for them.

~~~
hliyan
By paying a premium, we're indicating to advertisers that we have buying
power. Which is exactly who they want to target. So in a way, paying tends to
attract ads?

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bertil
Skype is fundamentally broken. I use it on iPhone and my laptop (Mac) and
neither are remotely trying to adapt to my use case, which seems to be the
vast majority: I use it to talk to a handful of people (two, maybe three) I
need to have a button to call each, and access the history of the
conversation. Instead, I have unending lists of lists of contacts, annoying
recruiters, people who failed an interview 5 years ago, spammers, and I cannot
de-list any of them. And violently loud, impossible to remove, alerts for each
of those thousands of people’s birthdays, for no apparent reason. Best of the
best: they somehow cannot filter Larsen loops (the annoying high-pitch wobble
that comes & goes becomes louder: it’s an acoustic loop between mike & head-
phones), so I have to mute every 5 seconds for a second to take those out…

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andymurd
I've been using Skype since around 2005 and, since the Microsoft purchase,
every update has made the product slower and more resource hungry.

~~~
everfree
Running Skype for Linux here, and what are these "updates" you speak of? I'm
still getting 240p quality video when my friends try to screen share, which
means I can barely see what they're trying to show me. Also Skype sometimes
randomly mutes my mic. I guess one good point is that they never updated it to
run ads...

~~~
nfd
Oh, and watching two video feeds at once? That's "not supported".

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vardump
Only good Skype version I know is for OS X. Issues seem to be rare. Even it is
not as good as it used to be.

Skype on Windows 10 freezes and crashes pretty often. It doesn't seem to like
RDP with multi-monitor setups.

Android version doesn't always seem to update latest messages. It's presence
indicators are also not agreeing with desktop Skype and often just plain
wrong. Annoying when you're talking to someone who is 'green' and should be
present and turns out they were not.

Overall, Skype has gone downhill for at least the last five years. No positive
changes.

What would be a good replacement? Must be zero configuration, grandma usable,
with good voice quality, ability to chat, to share screen and send files.

~~~
neurostimulant
Google Hangout? It works on all major platforms, and it can call landlines /
cell phone number too.

~~~
yoz-y
I think Google Hangouts would be much more used if it was not initially broken
(or non existant) for Google Apps users for a long time.

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reboog711
Is it worth noting that Flash should only show those errors if you have a
debug version of the player installed? If you aren't developing Flash content;
get rid of the debug player and those errors will go away.

[Although I 'm not sure if that will fix the problems w/ Skype]

~~~
dplgk
Exactly, usually only a flash dev would install the debug version. But maybe
he still needs it for development.

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mistermann
Skype is one of the very worst pieces of software I have ever used, the UI is
so incredibly unintuitive it absolutely blows my mind.

~~~
iconjack
Skype : Microsoft :: iTunes : Apple

~~~
yuhong
I wonder why in general this kinds of things happen.

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towb
Running skype on Linux, I was hoping the Skype web client would become a good
alternative, but nothing really happens there...

Edit: I wanted to use the Skype app on my modern Android devices but last time
I tried it didn't even work.

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blakesterz
I have a really standard Win10 machine, nearly new, nothing fancy, and Skype
just updated itself to whatever the newest version is. About a minute after
the update the machine BSODed (or whatever the BSOD is now on win10) and
rebooted, saying it had a problem with an app had had to restart. Kind of
worried to start Skype again now. Those adverts drive me absolutely mad
though. How much could they possibly make off those ads that they're even
worth running in Skype?

~~~
wbkang
BTW it's super unlikely Skype would cause a BSOD. BSOD is akin to a kernel
panic. Most likely you have a hardware issue.

~~~
vardump
BSOD is indeed impossible without kernel or more likely driver bugs.

That said, Skype on Windows 10 does do weird things.

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mcooley
Windows 10 now has a built-in "Skype video" app which is much more bare-bones.
Once I confirmed it worked for calling the few people I need to video chat
with, I uninstalled the desktop app right away.

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markbnj
Also a long-time Skype user. I pay for the $29/year plan that gives me an
inbound number and outbound calls anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. I agree
that the UI has been getting worse, but I don't see those ads, which I presume
don't display for subscribers? I also obstinately continue to use the minimal
interface format, so that might have something to do with it. I actually use
Skype much, much less these days. Pretty much everything happens on hangouts
or Slack.

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cogwheel
Author of the article doesn't seem to understand the word "fundamentally".
This is most definitely an ancillary flaw, not a fundamental one

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gnaritas
Why is anyone still using skype?

~~~
Ace17
I use Tox-im. What do you use?

~~~
gnaritas
Google vid google chat, aim chat, both from pidgin client.

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LeoPanthera
Do the ads disappear if you have Skype credit? If they don't, that's
abhorrent.

~~~
zatkin
I have Skype credit and the ads are still there.

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MichaelBurge
I don't see these ads. But I purchase a phone number through Skype - maybe
they don't show if you're a subscriber?

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dsq
I tried using Skype on Windows 7 but found it simply impossible. It does work
passably well on my Note 4.

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murkle
Someone who reads HN and hasn't blocked Skype ads yet? LOL

