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Microsoft's Skype Drops Modern App In Favour of Old-Fashioned Win32 App
mikejuk writes: Microsoft, after putting a lot of effort into persuading us that Universal Apps are the way of the future, pulls the plug on Skype modern app, to leave just the desktop version. Skype is one of Microsoft's flagship products and it has been available as a desktop Win32 app and as a Modern/Metro/WinRT app for some time. You would think that Skype would support Universal Apps, there are few enough of them — but no. According to the Skype blog: 'Starting on July 7, we're updating PC users of the Windows modern application to the Windows desktop application, and retiring the modern application.' Microsoft is pushing Windows 10 Universal Apps as the development platform for now and the future, but its Skype team have just disagreed big time. If Microsoft can't get behind the plan why should developers? (Also at Windows Central and VentureBeat.)
Of course you can get that to work - you can access USB devices just fine through Universal Apps.
I'm currently doing that myself for a USB measuring device which is used for Physics lessons and can measure speeds, voltage, magnetic field strengths and so on. The vendor's program is written by engineers for engineers - and not so much suited for pupils. So I'm using the Vendor's API and implement a custom-tailored solution for every experiment the pupils have to do.
nobody wants a fullscreen IM app. that's the problem.
Well, except tablet users...
You've asked all of them, I suppose?
I use Skype on a tablet, and I want it as a background app so I can chat while I'm doing other stuff. I don't want it taking over the entire screen, or doing anything else more significant than a notification area icon to tell me it's still running.