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Skype For Linux: Dead? Or Just Resting?

Posted by msmash on from the Microsoft's-love-hate-relationship-with-Linux dept.

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.

5 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. Just resting, Monthy Python style by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Did anyone really expect anything different when Microsoft bought them?

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style by Rob+Y. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The Skype client is not the product. They give it away on all platforms. So not supporting the Linux version is not about losing money in any direct sense. Presumably the Skype folks thought it was worth supporting Linux when they were independent, so I'm guessing this has something to do with Microsoft not wanting traditional desktop Linux to have decent Skype support. Android is supported, because it's the most popular mobile platform out there. Don't support Android, and you don't support mobile. Apple folks have their own facetime thingy.

      Anyway, Skype is supposed to be an alternatove phone system. If it's not universal, it's not a phone system. So, even if the numbers aren't huge, desktop Linux makes sense. So, too, would Chromebooks. But yeah, they can't do everything. Still, they had Linux nailed down pretty well, so...

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      Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
    2. Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Skype lets me make free or nearly free audio and video calls to my relatives, who are scattered across 3 continents (and none of them the same as the one I live in).

      I'm quite satisfied with version 4.3, and I'm actually glad they've not updated it.

      People are clamouring for an update from Microsoft should be careful about what they wish for.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  2. Native clients by WarJolt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  3. Re:It's Linux-on-the-desktop that's dying. by RoLi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's nonsense.

    Linux marketshare in web statistics has grown from about 1% ten years ago to about 2% now. That of course is still a small percentage, nevertheless it is twice as large as it was ten years ago and it now grows at a faster rate because of the privacy issues of Windows 10.

    In just 3 years, Linux could breach 3%.

    So yeah, Linux grows on the desktop, Linux succeeds on the desktop - it just happens at a glacial speed and will take many decades.