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.

Comments

Just resting, Monthy Python style

[Kjella]

Did anyone really expect anything different when Microsoft bought them?

Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style

[squiggleslash]

What, continued development for at least three years? ;-)

And, for all their faults, Microsoft hasn't been ignoring rivals. Skype for Android is available and up to date, and if anything development improved on that after the Microsoft takeover (the first Android version was released shortly before Microsoft did) - the original was pretty awful and couldn't route calls over Wifi, for example.

The client for GNU/Linux still works, I still use it, no it's not perfect, but I think it's a little too early to imply Microsoft is to blame for Skype's poorer showing on that platform. Microsoft does seem to be playing better with the other children of late, hopefully it'll continue to do so, and the hopeful note at the end of TFS will be well placed.

Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style

[Marginal Coward]

Yeah, don't you just hate it when somebody pays $8.5 billion for something, then refuses to give it away. No wonder everyone here thinks they're evil...

(Note to moderators: Since the system here provides no "Irony" tag, please just ignore this comment if you don't get it. :-)

Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style

[Rob Y.]

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...

Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style

[Zontar The Mindless]

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.

Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style

[angel'o'sphere]

Linux as a whole platform is a complete clusterfuck nightmare for developers to try to stay compatible with.
That is complete nonsense.
Nothing is easier than programming a Skype like Application than for Linux or Macs.

You are full of FUD and likely have no clue about programming at all.

The Linux community should be writing it's own open source skype and have it's own for profit unified Linux Store and FORCE distros to come together so the OS has real leverage in the markets.
You are really dumb, aren't you? As long as MS does not allow third party programs to connect to the
Skype server, we can not do that.

Re:Just resting, Monthy Python style

[Tough Love]

Mumble has already achieved an impressive level of functionality, is popular with gamers, and could use a bunch of helping hands right about now to get it the rest of the way towards truly slick. Open source => not spyware (unlike Skype).

Setting up a Mumble (Murmur) server is dead simple.

Native clients

[WarJolt]

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.

Have any of you tried...

[evolutionary]

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.

Microsoft Might Have Acquired Skype For Free...

[ytene]

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.

Re:flesh wound?

[malditaenvidia]

Where's the "-1 Autism" option?

Re:It's Linux-on-the-desktop that's dying.

[RoLi]

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.