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Microsoft Is Disabling Older Versions of Skype For Mac and Windows On March 1 (venturebeat.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the checking-for-updates dept.

If you're using an older, outdated version of Skype, you may want to consider updating soon. Microsoft said today that starting on March 1 people will no longer be able to sign in to version 7.16 of Skype for Window desktop and older versions, and version 7.18 of Skype for Mac and older versions thereof. VentureBeat reports: "If you're one of those users, all you'll need to do is download the new update," the Skype team said in a blog post. This isn't the first time Skype is retiring old software. But that doesn't mean the upcoming move won't rankle some people. Version 7.18 of Skype for Mac and version 7.16 of Skype for Windows both came out less than a year and a half ago -- in December 2015. So it's not as if this is very old software. Still, Microsoft has been doing a lot to improve Skype in the past year. It's been migrating the app to its Azure public cloud infrastructure, and adding chatbots. Current versions of Skype -- like version 7.44 for Mac -- come with amenities like better previews of websites and better support for emoticons and other content in the input box for chats. "We've poured our energy and passion into creating something truly special, and this is just the beginning," Skype said.

18 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. My rejected more informative news by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 5, Informative

    Subject: Microsoft disables p2p Skype protocol starting March 1, 2017

    In a recent update of Skype for Windows Microsoft has announced that starting March 1, 2017 older, p2p versions of Skype will cease to work. This affects Skype for Windows versions 7.16 and below, Skype for Mac version 7.0 to 7.18 and the native Linux client (its only functional version 4.3). This news is especially unpleasant for Linux users of Skype, since the new "cloud ready" version of Skype for Linux is nothing more than a packaged Google Chromium web browser with Node.js running a web version of Skype, which means its memory consumption is huge and it's unable to store your conversation history locally indefinitely like the native client did.

    P.S. One can only wonder why ./ editors choose less informative posts over more informative ones.

    1. Re:My rejected more informative news by wvmarle · · Score: 2

      Thanks for this. A much better reason for disabling those older versions than the reasons given in TFS.

      Whether it's a good enough reason, is a point for discussion, but disabling an older version just because the newer one has new features, is a bad one. Improved security (which I would expect to be a key feature), or security as such, isn't even mentioned!

    2. Re:My rejected more informative news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've noticed recent Skype versions come with ads and with a request to look at all your computer's contacts. That's reason enough to stop older versions from working, as far as they are concerned.

    3. Re: My rejected more informative news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I still have an old version "just in case" I need to reach some old acquaintances. Last time I opened it up was about a year ago.
      With this new "development" I guess it's time to move on and say bye bye skype, stupid chimps at microsoft have finally gotten to you.
      RIP skype.

  2. What about Skype for Android? by Streetlight · · Score: 2

    My wife and her sister use Skype on Android based tablets, so what about that version? Of course, Android is based on Linux, so maybe a connection to the Linux version of Skype.

    --
    In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
  3. No skype for Linux by OFnow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The last skype for Linux for Ubuntu is now 4 years old. And there is none for 64bit Linux. So there is no skype for Linux. And yet no one cares :-)

    1. Re:No skype for Linux by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

      Technically, Skype for Linux Alpha is 64-bit. But as Artem Tashkinov pointed out above, it's really just Skype for Web running in 64-bit Chromium, and it takes a half GB of my laptop's 2 GB RAM. Because of the RAM use and the fact that I already had the 32-bit libraries installed to run Wine, I switched back to good old 4.3, which is still the only 32-bit Skype for Linux. Or should I just run the distribution's build of Firefox?

  4. Stop sending e-mails with link to update!!!!!! by leehwtsohg · · Score: 2

    How stupid can companies be? Stop sending e-mails with links to update, because scammers can do exactly the same!!!
    By doing this again and again, companies are getting users used to clicking on e-mail links to update software, which I think
    today is (one of?) the main vectors for malware (see DNC hack...). STOP IT! PLEASE!

  5. Telegram and Discord by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 4, Interesting

    WhatsApp pulled that same stunt on older iOS versions just a few days ago. I convince most of my friends to switch to Telegram and Threema.
    For business and games we mostly switched to Discord.

    https://threema.ch/
    https://telegram.org/
    https://discordapp.com/ -- replacement for Skype and TeamSpeak

    Pissing of their user base ... I really wonder how long companies continue to think they can continue to do that.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    1. Re:Telegram and Discord by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Discord doesn't work on the *BSDs, so it's not a great option. You should be pushing people to platforms that have open standards or open source clients. Otherwise the same shit that occurred with Skype will just happen again down the road.

    2. Re:Telegram and Discord by Motherfucking+Shit · · Score: 2

      Do you know if any of these support video chat on a Mac?

      I got a panicked call from my mom this morning, she uses Skype extensively to chat with family, and Microsoft just sent her an email about shutting down the current versions. I walked her through trying to update, but the website only offers her version 6-something. She has OS X 10.6 and apparently the new mandatory client won't run there, now I'm having to find her some alternative.

      --
      "BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
    3. Re:Telegram and Discord by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Discord is a disaster. It's a hipster version of IRC. The current nodejs/javascript takeover of desktop applications is becoming a serious problem. These 'native' clients don't integrate with the host system's UI, take gobs of ram for what they do, and are ugly as sin. In discord's case, the UI stack is gpu accelerated, which causes performance problems on marginal gpus (remember, this is just meant to be a chat program). Now I've got three different applications imposing custom skins (hw monitor, steam, discord) but each is shaded slightly differently. It's a mess. Devs are welcome to offer custom skinning as an option, but the default should be to obey system UI conventions. It's not that hard. These 'discoverable' UIs are anything but discoverable, and the insufferable 'google' style corporatespeak used for prompts is galling (eg: "ensuring dankest memes"). These hipster nodejs faggots are trying too hard to be cool.

      For all the claimed wonders of 'cloud' offload, the desktop sure still burns a lot of cycles just to display some text on the screen.

    4. Re:Telegram and Discord by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      Like most tother chat apps ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  6. Is it just me by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is it just me, or is everything turning to shit?

    It seems like every service, site, and program I use is steadily being degraded, feature-ized and/or monetized until it's a steaming pile of shit.

    FFS, just leave stuff alone for a change. Stop "improving" everything until it no longer works. I'm so sick of this shit.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Is it just me by antdude · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ditto. It bothers me too. I just keep using old stuff until I can't use them anymore.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  7. Bye by Gabest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm still on 6.x. If they disable that, that is the end of my adventure with Skype. A chat window must be small, no sidebars, no conversation bubbles, no huge profile pics, because I keep it open on the desktop the whole time.

  8. Switch to a device that runs free software by tepples · · Score: 2

    Basically we are coming to a point where you have to login online to use a computer at all

    How will that be enforced? Why can't people just switch to free software? For example, instead of an iPad or a tablet or laptop running Windows 10 Cloud, buy a device running GNU/Linux or Android. Or instead of an iPhone, buy an Android phone and install the F-Droid store. Or instead of a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, build a PC with SteamOS. What computing device class has no practical device that allows at least sideloading free software, if not replacing the operating system entirely with one that respects users' freedom?

  9. Re:New Skype is Spyware and recompressing your ima by Pelto · · Score: 2

    Don't understand why alternatives are not being discussed here. ekiga.org Jitsi.org Linphone.org All are based in France, oddly enough.