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Skype For Linux: Dead? Or Just Resting?
New submitter somebearouthere writes: Skype for Linux was updated in 2014 to v4.3 and has since sat there without an update while its counterpart on other platforms has been receiving updates. Sometime in 2015, Microsoft quietly abandoned that version of the product, showing back to Linux users who had paid for subscriptions with the expectation that one day they too would be able to finally use group video chat, have a real 64-bit version available and get an improved UI. Skype developers have just thrown in the towel and it has left the user base frustrated. Last month many users reported that Microsoft had broken the app's ability to join calls. Two Linux enthusiasts penned the issue in a blog signed by "lots of angry Linux users." I have contacted Microsoft numerous times over the past few weeks but it remains tight-lipped on the matter. I have a feeling Microsoft isn't going to update Skype for Linux.
Did anyone really expect anything different when Microsoft bought them?
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
That is what Skype for Web is for.
Get your PostgreSQL here: http://www.commandprompt.com/
Aren't we past the point of requiring native clients?
WebRTC has taken over and web standards are becoming more capable all the time. If Microsoft doesn't step up their game they will be replaced.
It's annoying that they're doing this, but at least there's a FLOSS project aimed at replacing Skype that's also cross-platform: https://tox.chat/
Why would anyone who's clued in enough to use free software want to use Skype, where it's known that every conversation you have is recorded by the NSA? Skype and Linux don't really jive.
Embrace and extinguish. Brings back memories of RAV antivirus.
It will be back when Microsoft releases their Linux distribution.
Aren't the version numbers different for each platform?
For example, Skype for the Windows Phone is at 2.29.
That 2.29 is a lot less than 4.3, but I don't think this is how Skype's version numbers work.
Really? Linux support was barely there even before MS bought it. And now you expect the most anti-Linux company out there to support Linux?
I thought you were off the pain meds already.
Ask you to change the architecture from x86 to AMD64 then the next time you run apt-get, most of your packages get erased and you can no longer run 64 bit apps. It's a complete disaster.
The thing with software is that it doesn't degrade over time. Just because you don't have the 'new shiny', doesn't mean the older versions stop working. My copy of Skype v4.3.0.37 is running perfectly fine for me (on RHEL v6.7 64-bit).
To those without any hint of a memory.
This has been done before, it is being done now, and it will be done again, for the betterment of the corporation!
after all, corporations are forever or are they not?
eNjoy!
Microsoft is Dead. So is Skype, Windows and all their products.
.. that will now promote alternatives over Skype. It seems very stupid by Microsoft to abandon those multiplicators.
With GNU/Windows installed, Windows 10 is now going to be a better Linux than Linux, so I'll be switching. The headaches of dealing with Linux crappiness like the lack of a working Skype or iTunes are just too much.
...and not only because their Linux client is both outdated and shit. There's are just so many better alternatives out there.
Say what you want about Google, but Hangouts is fantastic - specially how it can integrate meetings, calendars and documents in a single call.
Skype for Windows has turned to complete shit, with calls randomly failing, losing voice, messages being displayed out of order, and ads everywhere.
Seriously, rejoice that you don't have to deal with Skype's bullshit.
They're probably just busy rewriting Skype to work with WebRTC. (Or if they're smart, that's where they're expending their resources.)
Linus Torvalds: I will not change Linux to “deep-throat Microsoft”
Maybe if Microsoft offered to bring back Skype, and make it "just the tip"?
With Windows/Ubuntu you have no need for a native Linux version of Skype. Simply install Skype on Windows like any normal person and use your esoteric Linux environment.
This is brave new world, and we are just getting started.
...on both Windows and Linux. So this is a storm in a tea cup, unless you want to ask the Justice Department to look into Microsoft's activities again.
What are these retards thinking, shouldn't that be #ThanksSatya - Bill ain't been in the drivers seat for a long time, Satya is the replacement for Bill's replacement.
That was a pretty stupid way to approach the problem, regardless of how frustrating Microsoft might be acting on this issue.
Who uses that crappy software anyway? I give up with Skype, when I got more Nigerian "women" calls than my friends. Crappy software, full of spam. Keep it away from Linux.
I hate to say it as a user of Linux for over 20 years, but it's Linux-on-the-desktop that's dying.
Sure, Linux is seeing lots of use on servers, and it's on many mobile devices (even if it is hidden).
But on desktops and laptops? The situation is looking worse than ever before, and it has never been very good to begin with.
The number of home computers running Linux is almost non-existent. The number of non-server business computers running Linux is probably smaller than that.
Home and business users overwhelmingly use Windows or OS X. Many developers and designers have moved to OS X or FreeBSD.
It doesn't help that we've seen no real improvement, and in fact a lot of regression, when it comes to using Linux on desktops and laptops. GNOME 3 drove away a lot of former GNOME users. Systemd, PulseAudio, and NetworkManager have driven away others. X is showing its age. Wayland is going nowhere.
While desktop Linux has been stagnating or getting worse, we've seen both Windows and OS X getting better.
It's not the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Linux was way more stable than Windows 95/98/ME and Mac OS 7/8/9. In fact, many users have found Linux less stable, especially after the many teething problems with systemd, and the ongoing problems many still have with graphics drivers.
And of the few people who do use Linux on their desktop or laptop computers, many of them dual-boot with Windows, or only run Linux in a VM hosted on Windows or OS X.
So it's no wonder that Skype for Linux may be in limbo. Desktop Linux itself is in serious limbo! It makes no sense for a company, regardless of who they are, to invest time, money and effort into maintaining software that has almost no audience.
https://jitsi.org/ It looks quite good. this may be a blessing. Microsoft recently put word out about "bots" guiding you on things like vacations, products and so forth. in other words, Microsoft, is using Skype to anayze your communications and push ads. Not that I'm surprised. MS has historically been friendly to Linux and only recently even remotely tried to show some level of cooperation. MS SQL Server for Linux was an interesting step, but of course they can pull the pug at any time, which given this news (okay, not news...I've been wondering about this for awhile). Of course Android is killing MS on tablets and phones. Anyway, we've been patient enough. Time to try something different. Plus, did we really want Microsoft's spyware (ahem, "enhanced features") running on our Linux workstations? This could be a blessing in disguise telling us to give up hopes on MS and embrace the superior software projects in our grasp and encourage our friends/family to do the same.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Skype became obsolete, as far as I am concerned, quite a while ago. I have been using Hangouts for a couple of years now, and do not miss Skype in the least. In fact, it is not in my phone any more.
Why the heck can't Ubuntu easily support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications and libraries by default?!
I mean, this is a total non-issue on Windows and OS X. If you're using the 64-bit versions, you can run 64-bit apps, and you can run 32-bit apps. Hell, in the case of Windows you can even run ancient 16-bit apps!
Why is Ubuntu so goddamn fragile in this case, apparently to the point of destroying itself?!
I use the web app instead. You can use it with a "pinned tab" in Chrome or Firefox.
web.skype.com
My friends used to use Skype for their gaming sessions, but apparently Microsoft somehow broke their ability to make group calls, so they've more or less abandoned Skype for Discord.
Still kind of a kick in the balls though, since Discord doesn't (yet?) have a native Linux client, but at least it works well enough in a web browser.
an overwhelming amount of Linux users are mindful about their privacy. Why would they use Skype?
I get it ... you recognize that it's Monty Python, and that it has something to do with being incapacitated. Unfortunately, you've committed a faux pas by selecting a quote that's from The Holy Grail, when there were so many others that would've been appropriate from that scene alone. As 'resting' and 'pining for the fjords' have already mentioned, you still had your option of either side of the conversation, either claiming it's dead or denying it.
I personally would've gone with a 'stunned' or 'prolonged squawk' reference ... maybe 'nailed to the perch' reference if those had already been mentioned:
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
showing back to Linux users
I'm trying to figure out where this comes from. Is it somebearouthere's way of writing "turning their back on", or is it a literal translation of an idiom from his native language?
I know people who work for the United Nations. They all use skype constantly. Even those in IT who really should know better. I'm sure the 3-letter folks love the easy access. Lock down and firewall windows telemetry? Sure, go ahead. We have this little icon in your system tray....
On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
Warning: this is tin-foil-hat logic, but stick with me on this... Microsoft made 2 massive "purchases" of non-revenue-generating technologies [Hotmail and Skype]. In the case of Hotmail, they instantly got access to all traffic [metadata and content]. In case of Skype, one of the first things they did was re-configure the software to force all communications to route through their servers. For those who don't know, the pre-Microsoft versions of Skype only needed the Skype core servers to work out if their counterparty was "on line" and to pick up their IP address. The call setup and handling was done endpoint-to-endpoint with no server interaction. Now we learn, thanks to Edward Snowden, that the "Five Eyes" agencies are sucking up all net traffic for analysis... Now, I have ***ZERO*** hard evidence, but riddle me this: why would Microsoft take a service like Skype [one with limited revenue] and buy it in the first place? Having bought it, why would they massively increase the operational costs by forcing all traffic to go through Microsoft owned servers - infrastructure they would have to pay for? Just the cost of that infrastructure would have wiped out any profits from Skype for decades in advance... Unless [tinfoil hat please] they were getting massive tax breaks or other deals from the government, to off-set against the costs... If there is any shred of fact in the complete fiction/theory I've written here, then Microsoft didn't really pay that full price for Skype: or, if they did, they had help.
"with the expectation that one day they too would...get an improved UI"
I must say that was a very, very naive expectation. The best version of Skype was around 4.0, since then it's got worse and worse: slow, bloated, adware, enforced updates and riddled with usability bugs.
Just ditch Skype fuck em if they can't take a joke. Hangouts seems to be a decent replacement and does not require a client at all.
I personally prefer Hangouts. It runs on all platforms and seems pretty close on all.
Getting laid helps propagate the species; being a tinfoil-hat-wearing shut-in does not. One of those choices leads to the continuation of the species; the other does not. Care to guess which is which?
That's just the heterosexuals, trampling all over the reproductive rights of everyone else. I blame them for only allowing the species to propagate by them getting laid.
Skype, overall, always sucked. MS hasn't made it much worse. It's pretty much the same as ever. Horrible interface, horrible chat, decent video/voice calling. I don't even see why you guys care so much. There are tons of other options out there. If you use Skype to connect to friends.. your dumb. It's not good for that. It's not a good main IM/communications platform. It's for occasional video/voice chat. Sad.. but true. MS could make it better, but that would mean making it nothing like Skype ever was.
The issue isn't Skype, the issue is Linux.
Linux changed out from under it.
Linux failed in three ways:
1. It failed to maintain the ability to run 32 bit binaries on 64 bit systems
2. It failed to maintain a binary compatible runtime environment
3. It failed to maintain a uniquely identifiable machine ID; mostly, this was the deprecation of libhal, which was deprecated in 2008 https://lists.freedesktop.org/... and which is no longer supported
Yes, it's annoying that it requires the ability to uniquely identify your machine, just like the Adobe content management plugin for Flash needed to play Amazon and Google Play videos that are pulled down from those "stores" requires the same thing, to verify the CMS key on the back end server to permit decryption of the DRM'ed content.
Too bad, so sad: Their toys: play by their rules, or you can't play with their toys.
To add fuel to your fire, read some reports of the (attempted) reverse engineering of the client.
When M$ bought it, Skype was already a marvel of black-hat anti-tampering, anti-debugging, anti-reverse engineering techniques. It's pretty much state-of-the-art on that, on top of having arguably the best VOIP codec.
Is that the kind of sw. you want running on your device?
Huh, didn't realize that Skype stopped working on linux. Probably because I've pretty much exclusively used google hangouts for the last few years.
I thought Microsoft said it was moving away from the App and using Skype in browsers? It would stand to reason Microsoft would stop developing for a App on any platform including Linux.
But Microsoft Loves Linux, right? I mean, that's the current slogan going around, what with all the new Linux-friendly shit they've been doing recently with the open sourcing of various tools to the Ubuntu integration into Windows 10. You mean to tell me that they're still the bullshit artists that they've always been and their word has been worth nothing?
I'm still amazed people think Microsoft has really changed. Yes, they've changed in so far as having to directly address areas in which they have competition, but for many other areas, history has shown that they really are much the same as they've always been. And what's worse, people defend their behavior (particularly at places like Neowin.net) and think Slashdotters are just too negative. It's fucking annoying.
CEOs are just figureheads. The true decision-maker is, was, and forever will be Bill. Get it straight. He didn't sell his soul just so the first angry shareholder that came around could end him. He put himself TRULY in charge.
If people would adopt open standards like SIP we wouldn't be in this mess. Instead everybody insists on adopting new fanged thing x- this includes Google, Microsoft, and Apple products. No thank you. I refuse to use said products and I'm not afraid to tell my *business* contacts who insist on Skype that we don't use Skype for security reasons. If they want to do business with us they'll have to communicate with us in some other way. Same goes for reporters and others.
Skype was already switching away from P2P when they were acquired. This was fairly widely reported. Their P2P algorithm sucked, and was responsible for at least a couple global service outages. It just didn't scale as well as dedicated hardware.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
WebRTC has taken over and web standards are becoming more capable all the time. If Microsoft doesn't step up their game they will be replaced.
You could make a very good case that the app world is making the browser obsolete. Skype is installed on 50 million TV sets. It's available for most tablets and cell phones and it can be integrated into other programs like MS Office.
https://community.skype.com/t5/Linux/Run-Skype-for-Android-in-Linux/td-p/4217626
I'd like to know, if we can have a video calling client which can work in both Linux and Windows Desktops.
It's our fault to not having found the time and energy to converge to some other free alternatives (and there are). With people keeping using what's more convenient at the moment, other programs do not reach the critical mass needed to become useful.
I am glad they are not updating it; look at what's going on with Skype on Windows - it gets bloated, it has advertisements, it tries to convince you to switch to a Microsoft account, etc.
The Linux version does not have any of these "features" and I prefer it that way. Hopefully, they won't change the protocol to force everyone to get an update.
The saddest poem
Last time I checked it was x86 only. That's 32bits. No x86_64, no ARM. And a binary blob. I mean why would anyone bother?
Skype for Windows has been screwed up seriously last couple of years. Skype for Linux is still buggy, granted, but it's not full of ads.
If it works... it's good enough.
This signature has Super Cow Powers
Google Hangouts is technically superior.
Here's the proof (or opinion)
http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/saas...
My friends and I actually started using hangouts once I switched to Linux about a month ago, Skype works, but is far too problematic and doesn't support group video chat, at least in my case.
I love the fact that you can limit the bitrate on incoming and outgoing video feeds as well.
Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
rotfl users of a niche operating system complaining. wonder how freebsd and openbsd users feel pfff
Best thing about Microsoft is that it is a warning to not use that product.
Microsoft are like the kiss of death to a product.
I'm loving Linux Mint - Windows 10 just sucks like an industrial vacuum cleaner!
There shouldn't be a Skype "client" at all. Microsoft should be focusing all its energy on making Skype (and also "Skype for Business," formerly known as Lync) work inside a browser using WebRTC. We have the browser technology now. Standalone apps are so 20th century.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Just go all Linux and never look back.
Can you help me with my computer sorry I use Linux.
As of June 2016 Microsoft will be discontinuing Skype support/development for Smart Televisions. Be interesting to see where MS wants to go with Skype, while they are dropping these markets.
Skype was an amazing thing back in 2003, when we didn't have a lot of options. Today, modern browsers come with video conferencing embedded (WebRTC), so you can start a chat with anyone, on any platform, by creating a simple "conference" in talky.io and giving the link using any IM program to the person you want to talk to. Why even bother with skype in 2016?
Was it even ever alive? It has never been a usable piece of software on any of my linux installs...