
Skype for Linux Alpha and Calling on Chrome and Chromebooks - hackernews2000
https://community.skype.com/t5/Linux/Skype-for-Linux-Alpha-and-calling-on-Chrome-amp-Chromebooks/td-p/4434299
======
Vexs
You know what I want? I want the old linux client to work. It didn't have the
stupid bubbly UI bloated with ads and "big, friendly buttons" it had
functional utility, separate windows, and a much more pleasant user experience
just by being unpretty.

As it is, I'm glad I have to use it less and less in favor of discord, which
is by all accounts, far, far superior.

~~~
ronjouch
I for one consider separate windows a nuisance. I like the new consolidated
"all in one" UI, just like I liked when browsers moved to tabs.

Honest question: what's the added value of separate windows (to be precise,
separating contact list from discussions) to you?

~~~
Vexs
A big thing (for me anyway) is that the overall interface becomes smaller, and
allows for greater customization. I can set it up exactly how I want, and at
what size, without messing about. Sure, you can do that in a single-panel
application, but skype is never gonna do it. It's kind of like how photoshop
is better with floating windows.

~~~
ronjouch
Got it about the customization. But while it has a benefit to you as a
probable "power user", it has a cost: beginners don't get it. They don't
understand why part of skype is in a windows while another lives in another.
When widgets are dockable/undockable, they undock by mistake, lose the
undocked widget in some unseen corner of their screen, are unable to reattach
it, and get frustrated.

"All-in-one" UIs allow for less customizability/rearranging, but IMHO that's a
trade-off they do for one huge benefit: simplicity.

With this in mind, how do developers decide which direction to push? By
looking at their target user base, of course. And the target user base of
Skype is not mostly savvy professionals who like to rearrange windows/widgets,
it's humans wanting to talk to other humans. So Skype developers naturally
push towards simplifying.

Other examples of applications who are kinda, in various ways, reducing such
customizability:

\- Office, with the Ribbon: no more detachable toolbars.

\- All iOS / Android apps: single-screen, one thing focused at a time (with
the exception of left/right tiling in recent iOSes)

\- Even the GIMP introduced a Single Window mode in recent versions.

Now, why don't Skype developers let users pick whether to choose single or
multi-window mode? (which they used to do in the Qt-based version under
Windows, see the "View" menu).

\- Because configurability means more code, more tests, more bugs, more money.
So if only a tiny part of the userbase requires the configurability, product
managers bring the hatchet.

\- And again, options means beginners will accidentally change them to the one
that doesn't fit them, won't understand what the hell happened and how to
change it back, ending up either grudgingly accommodating to the undesired
option, or getting frustrated and leaving.

~~~
Vexs
Fair points- I largely don't have an issue with single-window interfaces, (see
discord) but it kinda sucks to have your nice, multiwindow taken away and
replaced with something much, much worse.

------
cm3
In case anyone's wondering, this is Electron using the WebRTC version of
Skype. I wonder why they didn't just promote the WebRTC site instead. It would
make it easier to have the latest security updates in the browser engine
without waiting for Skype (Microsoft) to publish an update.

~~~
hackernews2000
For the same reason they don't promote it to Windows users (which will have a
similar program in the future replacing the current "native" software): better
integration, system tray support, no need to keep your browser open or to
enable browser notifications in the desktop, directly accessing and managing
your camera and microphone without relying on your browser support and
settings etc.

~~~
cm3
Genuinely curious, how does Electron access your camera different than Chrome?

~~~
hackernews2000
I mean that you can keep browser access to your camera completely disabled
instead of having to enable it and whitelist their site. Also, not everyone
uses Chromium-based browsers.

------
neverminder
So I'm guessing the major "improvement" is that we're getting ads with this
version just like Windows users had for a while now?

~~~
hackernews2000
The current (abandoned) Linux client doesn't even support group calls anymore.

And if there are ads, just like Windows users, you will be able to block the
ads with your hosts file.

~~~
rogerbinns
It doesn't support group video, but sure as heck supports group audio. I used
it just last to do that, as well as the week before.

------
ronjouch
For those wondering: yes it's an Electron-based app; it's a packaged version
of web.skype.com

------
Longhanks
Is anyone (especiaially on Linux) still using Skype these days?

~~~
snaky
The whole world outside US, basically.

------
samsonradu
Finally! I've been using web.skype.com for over a year now, lacking
video/audio calls (usually handling those from my phone)

~~~
hackernews2000
> We will be releasing updates to Skype for Linux every couple of weeks and we
> hope that video calling, and group video calling will be available in the
> coming couple of releases.

[https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA34656/more-information-
ab...](https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA34656/more-information-about-skype-
for-linux-alpha)

------
Wheaties466
I wonder how quick this will be up on AUR.

~~~
chrisper
[https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/skypeforlinux-
bin/](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/skypeforlinux-bin/)

------
chinarulezzz
In the new version are absent: * One-to one video calling * Skype PSTN calling
* Skype SMS messages * Buy Skype credit * Add participants to ongoing call *
Change device settings

At that, this client support only the new version of the protocol, and can
interact with fresh releases of Skype for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, but
can not make and receive calls from the old client for Linux 4.3.0.37.

EEE. From m$ with love.

