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Microsoft's Skype Drops Modern App In Favour of Old-Fashioned Win32 App

Posted by timothy on from the tin-can-edition-will-be-totally-different dept.

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.)

14 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Especially odd... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This seems particularly weird given that Microsoft has devices where (with, no doubt, a painful list of 'write once, port everywhere' caveats) 'Modern' is the option. Windows RT was the first stab, though it dragged along win32 for Office; but it's dead and irrelevant. Windows Phone, though, unless also headed for the chopping block, is presumably still going to have Skype, and it isn't slated to get win32 any time soon.

    Is the dogfood really so dreadful that they'd terminate the metro version on every device that has full windows available, despite the presence/absence of touchscreen, design favoring conventional or tablet-style use, and so on?

    1. Re:Especially odd... by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Microsoft really fails miserably at the idea of cross platform apps. They either just don't get it or they don't want to get it. .Net was suppose to be Microsoft key to cross platform future. Similar archecture to Java however to get some competive speed advantage they took out the ability to be cross platform creating an language that is slower then native code but only works on one platform, there is even issues from 32 bit and 64 bit.

      The metro design is extreamly limited for developers and you can't take any advantage of hardware, you have the general controlled level of JavaScript in a browser.

      Microsoft needs to realize that if you make a cross platform app, you will expect it to run on different platforms, and have access to the system a little more in depth then what the browser will access. Otherwise we will just deploy our apps via the web.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Especially odd... by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      TFA says Windows RT will continue to get the Skype Metro app. So actually... I'm kinda struggling to see the logic here. Skype will still be maintained on both platforms, it's just people with Windows 8 tablets with an ix86 architecture will now have to navigate to the (touch-awkward) desktop to use Skype.

      Uh, what?

      And yet I can't get myself too upset about this because the Metro app had that horrible "Cannot use anything other than the logged in Microsoft account unless you want to force all your apps to have different accounts" "feature". For those saying "So?", if you've tried to use 8.1 in the latter mode, Windows acts like you're committing a crime each time you install a new app that requires a Microsoft account. And to give you some idea of what requires a Microsoft account, Microsoft FUCKING SOLITAIRE will bug you constantly until you associate it with one. There's no "Leave me alone, no, I don't need my current Spider status stored in the cloud you idiot, why would you even think that's something I want let alone insist on demanding login credentials every time I start this game" checkbox.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. Universal App APIs are too limited by nateman1352 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The limited APIs and strict sand-boxing on universal apps limits the amount of actually useful software you can write for it. "Universal" really means lowest common denominator between our phone and desktop os. If all you care about running on your computer is cut the rope and angry birds then its fine. If you want an actual full featured computer... not so much.

    1. Re:Universal App APIs are too limited by nateman1352 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't use the Universal App API. So I have to ask. How is it worse than the model used by the Android and iOS API? Why wouldn't it be adequate for an app like Skype.

      For basic calling functionality yes you could definitely get by with an Universal app. But remember that they sell a bunch of USB Skype phones that plug in to your desktop and have a keypad for dialing numbers and sometimes a LCD screen for contacts and/or video calls. There is pretty much no way you are getting stuff like that working with a Universal app.

    2. Re:Universal App APIs are too limited by Rhywden · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

  3. Makes perfect sense if the goal is data mining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Universal Apps have a permission system, like Android. That means that, with a little tinkering, an app like Skype can be configured to work properly yet still have no privacy-violating access to parts of your computer it has no business being in.

    But a full-blown Win32 app isn't restricted in the same way - or at least, preventing it from behaving maliciously is a lot harder. As a datamining tool, a Win32 app is far, far more valuable than an app.

    In case people have forgotten, the Skype team was working with the NSA long before Microsoft acquired them. This decision should surprise no one.

  4. Re:win32 really? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have 2,147,483,648 contacts, you insensitive clod!

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  5. What's so bad about DESKTOP computing? by mfearby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's Microsoft's biggest asset (as well as client/server development platforms). Just because somebody else seems to be doing well in the mobile space, why does Microsoft see a need to translate that into ruining one of the good things going for them? If Microsoft trashes the desktop PC they do so at their peril. And I say this as an avid Mac user at home and Win8/.NET/SQL Server developer at work. The vast majority of 5 x 7 workers are NOT going to be productive with a tablet. They ARE going to be productive on "traditional" desktop computers (whether they use apps in a web browser all day or not).

  6. Skype ui inconsistencies by cuby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Skype has a completely difference UI for windows desktop, metro, Mac OS, iOS on iPad, iOS on iPhone, Android (last time I checked) and Linux. All different!!! And probably none is good. Why would they care about universal apps?

    --
    Math is beautiful... e^(pi*i)+1=0
  7. nobody wants a fullscreen IM app by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    nobody wants a fullscreen IM app. that's the problem.

    for a while they were pushing win8/8.1 users to the metro version, to tie them to the appstore.

    on a related note the adware they delivered to shill windows 10 update is crashing on multiple people.. http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

    and on an even more related note, skype fails shutting down consistently on my windows 8.1 pc. the desktop version that is, crashes every time on shutdown. EVERY SINGLE TIME. it has been updated multiple times without fix.

    seriously, nobody doing serious work inside microsoft even was using the metro skype. it's impossible to integrate it into any kind of workflow.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    1. Re:nobody wants a fullscreen IM app by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:nobody wants a fullscreen IM app by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, no I dont. I want it to have the fullscreen capability, but not full screen forced on me.

      The worst apps on my Surface Pro are the stupid as hell metro apps.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  8. Re:win32 really? by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, Microsoft refers to it as Win64.

    Win32 is essentially the same as Win16, with 32 bit pointers in a single address space. Win64/Win32/Win16 are all the Windows API with different memory models.

    Disclaimer: I was programming these things in the 1980s and 1990s, which is why I'm getting hammered in another thread for pointing out that "PC" has always been used to refer to computers based upon the IBM PC architecture and its descendants, and no, Amigas were never PCs, even though they were personal computers. Youngsters these days. Tsk.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.