

Skype 5 for Mac blocks all webcam access by Flash. Skype says it is "by design" - lukeinth
https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCM-721
Thought I would pass on a word of warning about the recently released Skype 5 for Mac. Once installed, if Skype 5 is running (even in background), it will block Flash from being able to access your webcam. This breaks quite a few popular web applications. Unfortunately users will think the problem is caused by Flash, when it is actually caused by Skype.<p>Examples of sites and applications broken by Skype 5.<p>http://www.dailybooth.com - core feature of the site
http://www.facebook.com - webcam record and "take a photo" feature
http://www.picnik.com - image editors that have import from webcam
http://www.webcamsnapper.com - webcam photo widget used by brizzly, dailybooth, many other sites. (disclosure: my company built this app)
adobe connect, dimdim, etc - online meeting apps<p>Skype has been aware of this issue since the release of the beta in November and yet they have not fixed it before the general release. According to their issue tracker they say this new behavior is "by design".<p>https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCM-721<p>In the old Skype (2.8) this was not a problem, so something has changed. If indeed this is not a bug and is "by design" then it is a very worrying move. Imagine for a moment things were reversed. Say for instance a new release of Flash stopped all video calls working in iChat or Skype. People would be outraged, Gruber would have a heart attack.<p>Just to be 100% clear, Skype doesn't need to be in a video call for it to block webcam access by Flash. It simply needs to be running. The only fix is to shut down Skype then reload your browser. After this the webcam will start working again in Flash. The only long term fix is to uninstall Skype 5 and install an older version.<p>More discussion of the issue in Skype forum: http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=782411
======
lukeinth
Thought I would pass on a word of warning about the recently released Skype 5
for Mac. Once installed, if Skype 5 is running (even in background), it will
block Flash from being able to access your webcam. This breaks quite a few
popular web applications. Unfortunately users will think the problem is caused
by Flash, when it is actually caused by Skype.

Examples of sites and applications broken by Skype 5.

* <http://www.dailybooth.com> \- core feature of the site

* <http://www.facebook.com> \- webcam record and "take a photo" feature

* <http://www.picnik.com> \- image editors that have import from webcam

* <http://www.webcamsnapper.com> \- webcam photo widget used by brizzly, dailybooth, many other sites. (disclosure: my company built this app)

* adobe connect, dimdim, etc - online meeting apps

Skype has been aware of this issue since the release of the beta in November
and yet they have not fixed it before the general release. According to their
issue tracker they say this new behavior is "by design".

<https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCM-721>

In the old Skype (2.8) this was not a problem, so something has changed. If
indeed this is not a bug and is "by design" then it is a very worrying move.
Imagine for a moment things were reversed. Say for instance a new release of
Flash stopped all video calls working in iChat or Skype. People would be
outraged, Gruber would have a heart attack.

Just to be 100% clear, Skype doesn't need to be in a video call for it to
block webcam access by Flash. It simply needs to be running. The only fix is
to shut down Skype then reload your browser. After this the webcam will start
working again in Flash. The only long term fix is to uninstall Skype 5 and
install an older version.

More discussion of the issue in Skype forum:
<http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=782411>

~~~
jacquesm
<http://ww.com/> is also affected and we've already seen some support requests
about this.

~~~
dhimes
Are you taking a serious hit from this, or is it too new still?

~~~
jacquesm
The mac is fortunately not the largest part of the users but it's definitely
something we can see.

~~~
dhimes
Hopefully they'll bow to the pressure of all the UIs they broke. This is a
fear that alot of us have, of course: a seemingly capricious change (meaning
unforeseeable to us) breaks our UI for our customers. Good luck with that.

------
pclark
I have no idea what Skype was thinking with version 5 of their client. It is
atrocious.

There is so much white space, if your Instant Messenger client takes up more
screen space than a web browser, you're probably doing something wrong.

Download version 2.8 - <http://mac.oldapps.com/skype.php>

~~~
ThomPete
What they had in mind was the 90% of their users who only have 5 contacts in
their contact list and the 95% of their users who only use the text area to
write "Can I call you"

In other words Skype is designed for the 90% not us 10%

~~~
moe
Over here skype is the #1 business messenger. Text-chat dominates voice and
video by far, and most users have dozens or even hundreds of contacts
("everyone else in the company").

It seems unlikely to me that all these companies amount to only 10% of overall
skype usage.

~~~
haribilalic
Where is here? The most common business messenger in my experience has been
Office Communicator. It's everywhere that Exchange and Outlook are.

~~~
moe
_Where is here?_

Europe. "Do you have skype?" is mostly a rhetoric question around here when
asked in a business context.

~~~
gte910h
Seems quite popular in Canadian business circles too.

------
relix
As the developer of a web app that uses the webcam through flash, I am already
mentally preparing myself for the flood of support requests that inevitably
will come.

Maybe Skype should become classified as malware. This is only the latest in a
series of huge bugs because Skype tries to integrate with every application.

~~~
ringm
Their Firefox plugin has already been blocked: <https://www.mozilla.com/en-
US/blocklist/>

------
meric
"Beom Soo Park added a comment - 31/Jan/11 2:21 PM I have to rectify the term
I used before, this issue found to be a "bug", not "by design", We are working
on the issue and will be fixed in future updates. Sorry for making confusions.

Thank you"

------
alanh
1\. Three months ago, a Skype customer reports a terrible, hostile,
unreasonable problem with the new client via official Skype bug tracker

2\. Company rep asks, “Can you provide us your feedback? You can send feedback
through Skype Menu -> Provide Skype Feedback … Thanks” and provides not a
glimpse of insight into why the customer is being asked to submit this
complaint elsewhere instead of the rep just, you know, doing his job and
getting the message wherever it needs to be, himself.

3\. Customer: WTF, didn’t I just do that here?

4\. Support person: “Currently, this [issue] is by design.”

5\. Other users express outrage, and this is posted to HN today

6\. Today, rep “rectifies” previous statement and says it is a “bug, not by
design.”

(Can we get something to the HN front page about Skype for iPhone’s terrible
behavior of loading all chat messages in chronological order, taking literally
half an hour before the app is usable?)

~~~
ZoFreX
> (Can we get something to the HN front page about Skype for iPhone’s terrible
> behavior of loading all chat messages in chronological order, taking
> literally half an hour before the app is usable?)

The iPhone app does that too? The Android app doesn't do it until you open a
conversation... but it does it every time you switch to that conversation,
making it utterly unusable and potentially embarassing!

------
redthrowaway
"To ſay it is ‘by deſign’ is not an acceptable anſwer. Your proprietary,
inflexible, ſecret piece of ſoftware takes control of ðe uſer’s hardware
wiþout his conſent, and ¿you do not even offer a reaſon for ðat?"

I'm trying really hard to figure out what localization this guy's keyboard is
set to.

~~~
zephjc
I think it is some sort of pseudo-attempt at a spelling reform movement, very
silimiar to this <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2357504854> but even
that doesn't have the s/ſ and ¿? changes.

~~~
iron_ball
Particularly ridiculous when you notice that he uses "ſ" for the S in both
"software" and "design." Wouldn't a reformed spelling use different symbols
for the two sounds?

------
nickolai
For once, i am rather happy with skype devs _not putting too much effort_ in
the linux version. Hope it stays that way...

~~~
danpker
Never had a big problem with the Linux version. It does video, with good
quality, and that's all you really need Skype for, a flashy UI or other
pointless features just detracts from Skype's main purpose.

~~~
nickolai
Totally agreed. I used to be annoyed by the absence of SMS support in one of
the previous versions. I havent bothered checking whether it is present now,
since I no longer need that feature anyway.

------
notintokyo
Previous Skype extension for Firefox was also causing trouble for many
websites. The plugin is common enough to cause a lot of grief.

------
adaml_623
Does this mean that Skype can take snapshots through your web cam whenever
it's running? There was a US high school that installed software that did that
and got raked over the coals for it.

~~~
DougBTX
Almost any running application on your computer can use your web cam and your
microphones. The only question is whether they do.

~~~
adaml_623
My point was that they can do it and you wouldn't be able to tell as they
always have access to the webcam anyway.

------
pmjordan
Interestingly, FaceTime and iChat don't seem to have any trouble using the
webcam while Skype is running. Since they're Apple apps, they may get
priority, however.

~~~
danpker
Well, I think Skype only interferes with Flash apps, non flash apps that use
the camera are unaffected.

~~~
pmjordan
This to me implies that _both_ Skype and Flash are doing something wrong.

~~~
Maxious
Reminds me of the recent conflict between the IcedTea (Java) and Moonlight
(Silverlight) plugins in Chrome/Firefox
[http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2011/01/plugin-...](http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2011/01/plugin-
conflict.html)

Is there an equivalent to Video for Windows/GStreamer on OSX?

~~~
nitrogen
_Is there an equivalent to Video for Windows/GStreamer on OSX?_

Apple's media framework and counterpart to VfW/DirectShow/GStreamer/etc. is
Quicktime.

------
e40
As a side note: the new Android Skype release is getting panned on the market
because of horrible UI features (puts an icon in the notification area that
cannot be removed) and other bugs. I finally removed skype from my droid, even
though I do occasionally get calls from it.

------
lukeinth
Just an update to say Skype have responded saying they will fix the bug in an
upcoming release. Hopefully we won't have to wait long.

------
ElliotH
Skype are now calling it a "bug".

~~~
iPadDeveloper
Confirmed. Retracted.

------
maxart
According to Skype's reply ( see Beom Soo Park's new post on
<https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCM-721> ) they are "working on the issue and
will be fixed in future updates."

------
smikolay
I have been fighting with this since installing the Beta. Has caused me to
stop using skype, and only turning it on as a last resort. Would be curious if
anyone has a link for 2.8, as it (unsurprisingly) isn't on their site anymore.

~~~
maxart
You can get it from: <http://mac.oldapps.com/skype.php>

~~~
xentronium
It's still on their site anyways.

<http://download.skype.com/macosx/Skype_2.8.0.866.dmg>

------
jawee
I recall having this problem on Windows as well. I have a Windows laptop (XP
with Turion X2 processor) I keep on hand in case I ever need Windows that I
hauled out of the closet the other day as a Skype friend wanted to play a game
(I´m on Linux). I installed Skype and was greeted with a behemoth that this
computer couldn´t handle. Incidently, I was surfing in the background while I
ended up just chatting due to poor video quality and came across a website
that took your Flash webcam and did effects with it and the video would not
load. I rebooted (sans Skype being open now) and it worked.

------
janno
We released a hotfix yesterday, fixing the Flash bug and a couple of other
significant bugs.
[http://blogs.skype.com/garage/2011/02/skype_50_for_mac_hotfi...](http://blogs.skype.com/garage/2011/02/skype_50_for_mac_hotfix.html)

Please upgrade to 5.0.0.7994: <http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-macosx>

------
gglanzani
Skype does not care enough about UX in general. It's no wonder that, when
faced with design questions like "Should we allow Flash to use the camera
while Skype is running?", they take the wrong decision.

If you couple this with the UI of Skype for Mac 5, you have plenty of reasons
to remain with version 2.8.

------
jpcx01
Flash video camera is a disaster, especially on Mac. After spending months
working around its flaws, I've vowed never again to use Flash video recorder
in my web apps again.

Currently it's completely broken in Chrome on Mac (even broke non
facebook.com).

And I bet Adobe wonders what has provoked the wrath of Steve Jobs.

~~~
davej
This may be so but how does it justify Skype blocking flash from using the
camera?

------
coffeejunk
skype for mac has always been a pain but it seems they're trying really hard
to make it even worse. <irony>besides of course coverflow for profile
pictures, which is a huge improvement in usability.</irony>

------
riffic
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1759181>

------
siculars
This version was obviously built for people who only use one application at a
time.

~~~
JBiserkov
Yeah, but Skype launches by default on system boot up (on Windows, at least,
assuming a next->...->next->Finish install)

------
asmosoinio
I am getting a 503 error from the link. Any mirrors?

------
chitra


