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Skype For Microsoft Edge Will Work From the Browser, No Plug-Ins Required
We mentioned a few months back Microsoft's beta of a browser-based intrerface to Skype. Now, reports Engadget, Skype will be able to work without a plug-in (as was required for the beta). However, it will work -- at least at first -- only with Microsoft's Edge browser. The latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build comes with Object RTC API. That's the element that allows real-time audio and video communication without the need for any installation not just for Skype for Web and Outlook.com, but also for other WebRTC-compatible services. To note, Chrome, Firefox and Safari all support WebRTC standards, but it's unclear if and when Skype will enable a plug-in-less experience for those browsers, as well.
Please don't run executable code inside my document viewer.
kthxbye
But does it run Linux?
Since the release of Skype 7.0 (actually the preview version, 6.22), the largest thread on the the Skype community forum has been about one request - can we have our screen space back?
(My take on this at great length at http://moteprime.org/article.p...)
This news gives me some hope that, with appropriate HTML and RPC chops, we will see third-parties allow users some measure of customization of the Skype UI.
Sean Ellis
Follow OfQuack's antics on Twitter.
I suspect well be getting the always on, talk to your web browser functionality so you dont have to click anything when you want ot make a call. You can just say "skype, call my mom" and and bing, skype will inform microsoft, the nsa, and your mom that you want to talk. And when you dont want ot talk to mom, skype will make sure any naughty keywords you use while sitting at your computer are also promptly forwarded to the NSA as well.
The business logic needs to be separated from the users viewer space. The problem with modern graphics driven UIX apps is the lack of design time spent referencing what could be a better specc'ed repository. This is evident in the MS Skype which tends to cramp the experience with unnecessary clutter. Extra cache hits certainly don't help the cause either.
No self respecting user let alone techie uses Skype. Now there are lot of stupid people out there... but I won't go there. I'm sure this will already be down voted by said users.
Just one step left.
When i read "Windows 10" i read "surveillance".
When i read "Skype" i read "NSA surveillance".
Once i was laughed at for being paranoid.
I always knew i was Cassandra instead.
Yet. Although APIs from Object RTC are getting folded into WebRTC post version 1.0 and there is adaptor.js someone is writing for Firefox to bridge the gap in the meantime.
U must be joking brother Microsoft really going to provide soft app for free.
I don't want to actually talk with people, I want to type, and skype is the biggest piece of shit when it comes to be an actual IM client. Doesn't even have the basic of an IM client, like custom colored text.
It should be possible to handle audio capture with Web Audio and compression with ASM.js
Why use a proprietary technology?.
I thought Microsoft had learned from it's mistakes.
With Windows 10 at ~9% market share of desktop OS's, Edge is currently at ~2%. Incorporating Skype isn't going to help Edge attract many more users, if any, since it still is not compatible with many websites and crashes more than other browsers. I use Edge solely to open my Outlook.com mail since the Mail app in Windows 10 won't do the job. The whole Windows 10 situation is quite fubar, it seems to me.
Complaining about Hello was the cool thing to do, but now that Microsoft is doing the same thing, only worse in every way, I'll bet Hello's starting to look better to even the non-fans who were whining about having a minimal UI to all these WebRTC standards that actually made them useful.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has completely ruined Skype, and they will probably never be able to recover the users they lost. My grandparents got locked out when Microsoft started requiring a Microsoft ID, so I switched them to gchat. Plugins are easy enough to install and unless Microsoft fixes the ridiculous Microsoft ID requirement, I can't see many people using Skype ever again. Let's face it, Microsoft is just not competive with the new generation of tech companies and the only reason they lasted as long as they did is because they had a near monopoly, maintained by compatibility issues, for decades.
I've multiple Skype accounts since ages. Never been forced to require a Microsoft ID. Stop spouting bullshit.
The problem here is that the browser has become two different things:
1) A document browser.
2) An app-runner.
As much as I hate it, there is huge demand for an app-runner, so that use case is not going away. The mistake was to try to tie both of these things into the same web-browser framework. We could have had a document viewer separated from an app-runner, but instead we have them both mixed together, with all the complexity that entails. It's not a problem that's going away, and expect Javascript exploits to multiply in the next few years, if not decades.
There's too much momentum with Javascript + HTML to go back now.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
At least New Microsoft has learned from the mistakes of Old Microsoft, which habitually produced services that only worked with their web browser....</sarcasm>
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Whether a plugin is needed , or not?
Maurice W. Hilarius Voice: (778) 347-9907
I don't think I consider building the code into the MS browser as being cause to celebrate that no plugin is needed.
They honestly don't care about free users. At my previous job, before I quit because of incompetent management. They started switching us all to 'Lync' aka Skype for Business.
It was horrible to use. And, such a bad idea. But, that's MS's target market, not free users. Obviously, as others have pointed out. This Edge integration will probably be similar to AVG's "we're going to sell all your data for the free version" model.
At least black tape over the camera works.
Bad news though, tape over the mic holes on a modern tablet DOES NOT WORK, I've tried recording with several layers of tape over every hole and the audio is still pretty damn good. Enough sound gets in to tablets/laptops/etc via the case and any socket holes to let built in mic work.
Scotch/Cellotape doesn't work over the camera either, it sees through it and focusses beyond the fuzziness of the tape. Has to be black tape.
There's a lot to be said for fridges. If you put your electronics in there they are air tight, so limit sound, and light.
I know it's easy to simply cut and paste from the original article (heck, it's one way to get people to actually read part of the article), but why not make corrections to gross errors?
Apple is not supporting WebRTC and has not implemented any of the features necessary for it. Not in desktop nor in mobile.
The problem Internet Explorer faced was that it wasn't "Just a browser".
Microsoft, not all your users want to use Skype, please don't burden them with unnecessary bloat
It looks like Microsoft Corporation just invented Firefox Hello, or Facebook Video chat.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Yes you can sign in without it, the point is, it is difficult enough to make people switch : http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...
Edge Enables Embrace, Extend, Extinquish
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
More bloat. Just what modern browsers nees.
Jitsi's Videobridge is already in production and works great. WebRTC done right and under the MIT/X license too!
https://meet.jit.si/
http://www.jitsi.org/
It still can't render basic flash in under about 15 seconds and ummm oh let me think....oh yeah! THE ADDRESS BAR IS HIDDEN! Who designed that slow, clunky, unusable pile of garbage?
Damn, now I have more work to do on the Pidgin plugin. Anyone know if gstreamer supports ortc yet? ;)
Really? It's 2015 and you are still releasing browser code that only runs on your browser. You're still missing the whole point of the internet, where "inter" mean interoperation between networks and devices. You know, not a monoculture.
Here's a piece of free advice. If you don't pull your head out of your anus and start making stuff that people want and can use anywhere you are going to go broke. In less than 3 years. Really.
I will always remember where I was when I first learn about this Earth-shattering piece of news, bound to change the communications landscape in ways that we can't even begin to fathom.
...bloatware.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
If it works only in one browser it is not browser based. It's just traditional client app.
Really don't understand that the Skype app how works ? I know that how do i use it as well.