Microsoft Fixes Bugs in Skype for Linux (softpedia.com)

After neglecting Linux's Skype client for years, Microsoft released a new app of Skype for Linux in July, giving comfort to millions of users. The app, however, had a fair share of bugs. Microsoft today has updated the app to iron out those bugs, and introduced a handful of interesting options. An anonymous reader writes: There were plenty of users who complained that Skype for Linux was reconnecting automatically when not using the app for a certain amount of time and Microsoft has already acknowledged the bug. This new version fixes the problem, so everything should work correctly after updating. Additionally, Skype for Linux 1.7 introduces a new grid layout of the group calls, but also fixes the standard behavior of unread messages. According to Microsoft, this means that "when opening chat with unread messages, the view will focus on the first unread message and as you scroll, messages will be marked as read."

Comments

Ok, what's the catch?

[Grishnakh]

Ok, what's the catch? Why would MS spend even one man-hour working on this thing? MS working on software for Android makes sense because it has a huge marketshare, and same with stuff like MS Office for Mac (not huge marketshare, but enough to make it worth the investment for them). But Linux has a minuscule market share, which I admit as a Linux proponent, so what's MS's real plan here? They never do anything on non-MS platforms without a really good (and likely nefarious) reason.

Re:Ok, what's the catch?

[decipher_saint]

They also ported Powershell to Linux

My best wild ass guess is that they themselves are using it more and need common tools across OS's

Re:Ok, what's the catch?

[Ash-Fox]

Scrabbling for users is what, everyone smart enough has switched to other services like Discord.

Discord doesn't do phone stuff (Skype-in, Skype-out, Skype to go, VOIP to phone forwarding, free international calling, no existing phone required, voice mail), screen sharing, video chat, video conferencing, forwarding between accounts, has a UI that can be minimalist (why has discord made it even worse!?)...

I don't know of any real alternatives to Skype, I end up using multiple services at the end of the day, but Skype is irreplaceable because none of the alternatives do everything Skype can do.

Re:Ok, what's the catch?

[gmack]

It's a network effect. For each person who can't use Skype, all contacts to that person are forced to use an alternate client It's better for Microsoft to keep as many people on as many platforms as happy as possible.

Re:Ok, what's the catch?

[tlhIngan]

Ok, what's the catch? Why would MS spend even one man-hour working on this thing? MS working on software for Android makes sense because it has a huge marketshare, and same with stuff like MS Office for Mac (not huge marketshare, but enough to make it worth the investment for them). But Linux has a minuscule market share, which I admit as a Linux proponent, so what's MS's real plan here? They never do anything on non-MS platforms without a really good (and likely nefarious) reason.

Because probably a lot of people use Skype? And they may use Linux as well? I know a lot of developers use Linux here (they work on Android) and Skype is a fairly common communications tool, so if you want to use Skype and develop, you need to have a Windows box too. Not bad for Microsoft, but maybe enough for some companies to consider alternatives.

And corporate use of Skype is high as well - you don't want to piss them off because they're the ones buying those Skype minutes by the thousands for their employees.

And network effects - the more people using Skype, the more people will use Skype

They abandoned the Skype Linux client before. They probably got reamed out by some users with a lot of $$$ behind it, so they realized that even though Linux userbase is small, they spend a lot of money. Not a bad idea, it's what Apple does and why iOS is a favorite primary development target over Android, despite the latter being way more popular.

Why is this on slashdot?

[Errol backfiring]

Couldn't Microsoft just send an e-mail to their last Skype user on Linux?

Re: Why is this on slashdot?

[ccady]

No, they are right. This is the best way to reach me.

webrtc

[Kludge]

Good comment. I have moved on to using WebRTC in Firefox or Chromium. It's easier for relatives and me, and it works just as well.

Re:SubjectsInCommentsAreStupidCauseTheSubjectIsTFA

[exomondo]

For you maybe. Totally unusable in my case.

What an uninformative way to completely dismiss anything, equally applicable to whatever it is you use. Firstly "totally unusable" is likely hyperbole and given that it is multiplatform (Windows, OS X, Linux - with deb and rpm packages) open source and also has an interface for extensions I'm wondering what exactly the problem is here. What is your use case in which it is "totally unusable"? Or is it just because it's made by Microsoft?

If I'm doing quick edits I most often use vi (was never an emacs fan) but I've found for more extensive editing VSCode is great, maybe you prefer something like Notepad++ (which is also open source) but it seems more a matter of preference than capability.

Re: SubjectsInCommentsAreStupidCauseTheSubjectIsTF

[jcdr]

So your theory is that no useful software can exists if not done with Visual Studio ?
Seriously, I doubt that your router or your TV will ever boot in that case...

Re:SubjectsInCommentsAreStupidCauseTheSubjectIsTFA

[jcdr]

I do mostly Linux embedded software and I like to develop directly on the remote targets that don't have a screen. In this context Visual Code Studio is unusable as virtually any graphic IDE.