
Skype for Linux Alpha and Calling on Chrome and Chromebooks - benbs
http://blogs.skype.com/2016/07/13/skype-for-linux-alpha-and-calling-on-chrome-and-chromebooks/
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jswny
Dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12086223](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12086223),
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12091933](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12091933)

Similar discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12086769](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12086769)

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guessmyname
I knew they would use Electron ಠ_ಠ

But I can't blame them, I can imagine the difficulty of maintaining a native
Linux application considering that the majority of their users are either on
Windows or Mac. Since they released the web client I knew they would come up
with this "solution" to offer a new client for Linux users. At least the
mobile version is native, otherwise I would be flipping tables. Guess Electron
is winning more and more space among millennial developers, so maybe I should
give up on hating these web applications disguising themselves as native
software altogether.

~~~
pjmlp
What can one expect?

Productivity from native desktop development of tools like Delphi and XAML are
probably bonn fire old tales that millenals hear from ancient grumpy old
developers that cannot grasp how wonderful HTML 5 is.

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harel
Now if they only restore the quality of actual Skype calls/video that would be
great. I see a significant deterioration of quality over time. I can't
remember a skype call that wasn't disconnected, a conference call that someone
didn't get muffled or a video call that worked well in recent time. I've been
trying to use hangouts for most conf calls because of that.

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laveur
Am I the only one that is disappointed that they no longer have a native Linux
app? (The original Skype used QT)

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NetStrikeForce
What was the advantage of using QT instead of Electron? Isn't Electron
optimised for the platform it runs in?

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StavrosK
Mainly, it didn't need a crapload of RAM.

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cantagi
This is fantastic news - Skype is a decent product, and fairly universal, but
it also happens to be NSA spyware. I'll now use it, because it's sandboxed
within a web page!

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superobserver
Now that Android Apps hit ChromeOS Dev on Asus Flip, Pixel 2015, and R11, I'm
not sure what more point there is for a web-version of Skype (on Chrome and
ChromeOS) - except that Android Apps will not obviously be available for older
devices. Still, glad to see progress is being made, because this has been a
long-standing issue for further adoption of the ChromeOS platform.

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rekoros
By way of a plug, you can 2-way connect Skype chat with a few other services:
[https://sameroom.io/integrations/skype-
integrations](https://sameroom.io/integrations/skype-integrations)

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walkingolof
As a Linux user I'll take anything when it comes to Skype, even if it feels a
little cheap to get a packaged web app, I dont know why, there is no reason
for it really, its not like I'm going to use it offline anyway.

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arkad
As a long term Ubuntu user, I appreciate this much. As a Samsung SmartTV
owner, I'm curious how long will it take for Microsoft to bring back Skype for
this platform.

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fabrice_d
I wonder why the webrtc video calls only work on Chrome(OS) and not other
modern browsers (Firefox, and even Brave which is also a Blink based browser).

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bhouston
Sweet. I was just struggling today with the old Skype on Ubuntu from 2014.
Wouldn't receive files properly. This is a god send.

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bhouston
Just need to get proper desktop notifications integrated into this alpha
version.

