
Ask HN: Why Doesn't Microsoft Fix Skype? - buboard
I think it&#x27;s hard to argue that the current version of skype is an improvement over classic skype. It&#x27;s much worse when switching between concurrent calls, and almost unusable with multiple people. Options to keep notifications on a single device only are missing. Skype contacts and calls end up into the phone&#x27;s contact list. Why is it taking years for microsoft to put out a decent version of skype , or at least one that was as functional as skype classic?
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ijidak
Former microsoftie, here.

From years of observation, it seems Microsoft tends to ignore products in
industries that are in 1 of 2 states:

1\. Stagnant growth 2\. Low competition

Skype is in the former.

It's embedded deep in the culture to follow rather than lead. (Edit: I should
add that it's not that Microsoft doesn't try to lead, its just that generally
they aren't very good at it. They are much better as a second mover. Far more
so it seems than other companies.)

Most of their great products were a response to a rapid rise of a competitor.

Windows after Apple's GUI. Word after Wordperfect. Excel after Lotus 1 2 3. IE
after Netscape. Azure after AWS. C# & .NET after Java. SQL Server after
Oracle.

Once the industry stops growing or there is no competition, the product is
neglected or drifts listlessly unless another company causes the space to boom
financially again or gain mindshare, in which case Microsoft _might_ start
moving again.

(The only place where Microsoft truly leads is in developer platforms, because
they are a company of developers, so they get it better than the other
products they offer.)

Don't get me wrong, I use Microsoft products almost exclusively.

I've just learned to be very depressed when Microsoft doesn't face an
existential threat with the piece of software I use. The product will
inevitably drift and likely even get worse over time, until another company
can create an existential threat (like Chrome has done to an extent) and
literally drag Microsoft kicking and screaming into putting serious thought
into the product again.

It's just in their DNA, I guess...

But when they do finally get around to it, they usually do something cool. See
VS Code, WSL, etc.

So we just need someone to make Skype-like products cool again, and ideally
start making millions upon millions in the process, and then Skype will
improve. :)

~~~
mickelsen
Wow, this is a new angle I never thought about on the company's culture. It
could also explain Microsoft's more aggressive approach against Linux/Open
Source in the early 00s. Also agree about developer tools, currently they are
on point.

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gtirloni
The app is designed towards satisfying the need of most users. They see Skype
as a single app, whether it's used on mobile or desktop, so it makes sense
that calls and contacts are synchronized. If you start a chat on the desktop
client, you want to be able to continue it on your phone. Same thing with
notifications. This separation you want feels unnatural (and I remember it was
actually a complain most people had when it was not like that).

Could you elaborate on the difficulty with concurrent calls? I'm never in two
or more calls at the same time so I'm curious.

I really don't like the current design because they took a lot of options away
(e.g. you can't customize the themes that much and they look ugly to me).
However, at least on Linux, it seems to be improving.

I think they are trying to be everything to everybody, power users and non-
tech mobile users and are failing at both. The network effect part of this
makes it hard to separate those two audiences though.

Is there a call/chat app that you like better?

~~~
buboard
> you want to be able to continue it on your phone.

OK i understand that, but at least have the option to somehow have "less than
3 phones and computers ringing at the same time for a call". Also , i know it
s a windows thing , but i dont want to receive msg notifications on a computer
if skype is not running on it (but i do want notifications if i have it
running).

[I should note i m talking about the desktop version]

> Could you elaborate on the difficulty with concurrent calls?

Allow popping out each chat window separately. Switching from a call to a text
message of another user causes redrawing the entire page and loses the layout
every time. It's very annoying. Also don't reset the setting of (view full
video) whenever i resize the window.

> Is there a call/chat app that you like better?

Good question. Zoom's video chat management seems more reasonable, and as for
the chat, just use the skype classic layout, it's simple. In fact yes i think
i like skype classic better ;)

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happymellon
If you think Skype is bad, you should try Skype for Business.

Microsoft really don't care about its customers if you judge it on _that_
application.

~~~
randomvectors
Skype for Business is being shut down and moved to Teams over the next few
weeks. Which is good news, I suppose.

~~~
Spooky23
You’ll miss Skype for B.

Teams is a mess. An electron app that is a voice/video/chat/forum/Sharepoint
front end can’t be anything else.

All IM and Voice apps only get worse over time. AIM was probably the best
overall client to this day. The video stuff was lacking (understanding given
it was 20 years ago), but the UI wasn’t hostile, audio was great, and end to
end encryption was there for those who wanted it.

~~~
randomvectors
At work we've had both Skype for Business and Teams running in parallel with
the freedom to use what we like. I prefer Teams to the point where I don't
even turn on Skype anymore.

~~~
Spooky23
It depends on what you use. The big issue is that it’s a memory pig and folks
with constrained resources or working with other piggy apps have a lousy
experience. It works a lot better in your normal Chrome browser!

The other thing is that people can’t communicate between teams and Skype in
many scenarios. There are also potential compliance gotchas for some scenarios
that are difficult to identify.

I’m wary of anything new with Microsoft as when you stray from the happy path,
(which changes over time) they don’t test or fix regressions anymore and
create downstream problems.

------
joezydeco
My corp uses a Microsoft Office stack and we've been told Skype is being
deactivated and everyone needs to move to Teams.

So the answer as I see it is "because of Teams".

~~~
jmkni
I think Skype for business is moving to teams, regular Skype is staying.

~~~
DarkStar851
This is right. They're _finally_ killing Lync.

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jeromebaek
Teams is meant to be the modern replacement.

~~~
zeeed
Teams is not a replacement of SFB but a performance-hungry, battery-killing,
unusably slow and overloaded poor mash-up of Skype, SharePoint and Mail in an
attempt to beat Slack.

~~~
randomvectors
Not too hard to beat Slack's user experience though.

~~~
Chyzwar
Beside Discord, everything else is pretty bad compared to Slack. Microsft and
Google failed to deliver anything usable for the last 10 years.

~~~
MH15
Discord and VSCode really seem to prove that there can be good Electron apps.
These apps are great, and take advantage of the perks of web technologies.

Now when I look at Slack or Atom...

