Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Skype Retires Older Apps for Windows, Linux (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the leaving-people dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The newest version of the Skype app takes a big hat-tip from social media platforms like Snapchat and Facebook's Messenger with its newest features, adding a Stories-like feature called Highlights, a big selection of bots to add into chats and a longer plan to upgrade group conversations with more features. Now, as part of the effort to get people to use the new Skype more, the company is also doubling down on something else: Skype is trying to get users off of older versions of Skype. As part of that push, the Microsoft-owned company has sent out messages to users this week noting that it will be retiring a host of older iterations on July 1. Those who are still using them after that day will likely no longer be able to sign on. Skype app won't work on the follow OS versions: Android 4.0.2 and lower, BlackBerry OS 7.1 and lower, iOS 7 and lower, Linux (Linux users must upgrade to Skype for Linux Beta), Mac OS X 10.8 and lower, Symbian OS, Skype mobile for Verizon, Skype on 3, Skype on TV, Windows 10 task-based app, Windows Phone 8.1 and lower, and Windows RT.

17 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. What was the plan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Their goal is to get more new users by pissing off existing users?

    It's Microsoft. This has worked so far, so why not?

    1. Re:What was the plan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Some of us don't like to just toss electronic equipment like it was an old paper towel after 1 use. My last phone was retired because the charger jack wore out. Its replacement is larger and more power hungry and its replacement even more so. When the battery wore out, I installed a new one, and the screen has been carefully protected. The only thing that actually shows wear is the paint job on the power button.

      Sure, there are lots of cool new features on newer phones. But I don't desperately need them. In the mean time, I have money to spend on other things.

    2. Re:What was the plan? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      Hangouts is probably the worst chat client ever.
      And your suggestions make no sense.
      Last I checked hangouts can not communicate with iMessanger or Facetime ... oops!
      And hangouts does not work on my iPad anyway anymore.

      So what exactly would people be missing again if they don't Skype?
      About 100 friends and business colleagues who only use Skype .... Remember: Skype was once. European company. Plenty of people use it here.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:What was the plan? by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

      What am I supposed to use to communicate with my developers? Snapchat? Skype is the most widely used basic chat/voice client out there, I'm very sorry that we can't barf rainbows at each other, but it doesn't really get in the way of our work, much.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  2. Skype by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Can't we just just please kill it? Permanently? With fire if possible?

    The last time I use that abomination it was so bloated and clunky it was basically unusable even ignoring the "send all your conversations to MS" factor.
    Also I've had a bunch of people give me a skype address as a text-based IM contact. Seriously what the hell?

  3. Skype for Linux Beta is a RAM hog by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As RAM capacities increase, software becomes inefficient to compensate rather than allowing use of more applications at once.

    Like Discord for Linux, Skype for Linux Beta is essentially Skype for Web wrapped in Electron, which is a special-purpose web browser using Blink (the engine of Chrome) specialized for one site at a time. In my tests, it has the same RAM footprint as running a second web browser. Having the equivalent of several 100+ MB web browsers running at once, one for Skype, one for Discord, etc., adds up quickly for people stuck on a machine with 2 GB of RAM, such as my laptop with one RAM slot that cannot use modules larger than 2 GB.

    In addition, Skype for Linux Beta requires more vertical scrolling than Skype for Linux 4.3 because the "bubble" around each message in Skype for Linux Beta takes a lot more vertical space than the more IRC-style message list in Skype for Linux 4.3.

    So what's the alternative? Setting up a VPS and running your own IRC or XMPP server and requiring all your contacts install an IRC or XMPP client with which to continue to communicate with you?

    1. Re:Skype for Linux Beta is a RAM hog by tepples · · Score: 2

      What is the point of running skype though?

      My clients in recent contract programming jobs have preferred it. Its advantage over IRC is that Skype has chat logging without needing to lease a VPS to run your own server to install a logging plug-in.

    2. Re:Skype for Linux Beta is a RAM hog by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      Most Businesses and my girl friend(s as in ex) use Skype for video calls.
      Telegram does not support video calls so far.
      If your Skype account for hacked then it was likely hacked from the device you use and your device is compromised.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:Skype for Linux Beta is a RAM hog by theCoder · · Score: 2

      I use Pidgin at work to connect to the Skype for Business server. One of the things I like about it is that it keeps a log of all the conversations. It is named something odd, though, and it usually takes me a second to go though all the context menu options to remember which one to use.

      I also like it because it lets me disable the emoticons, which makes reading pasted code much easier. Too much code syntax has things that look like some form of smiley :)

      --
      "Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
  4. What about the Chinese spyware version? by Nocturrne · · Score: 2

    I wonder what this means for Tom Skype. Pretty much every action from Microsoft over the last few years has been to reduce our privacy and collect even more data, so maybe it's an upgrade to increase their surveillance capabilities.

  5. U.S.-only by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google Voice is exclusive to the United States, and I imagine that for most people, Google Voice isn't worth the cost of immigrating.

  6. 32-bit Linux is out by bmomjian · · Score: 2

    The summary should have mentioned there is no solution for 32-bit Linux machines.

  7. Skype useless on Linux by OFnow · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since Microsoft bought Skype the Linux support went from fine to out-of-date to mostly unusable to skype-no-64-bit (so useless). I still have a few dollars credit on skype but will never use the cash. I used skype as a way to call numbers outside our landline zone, but now I just use a mobile phone: the cell signal is just enough better (now) to make that possible.

  8. So what are good alternatives? by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 2

    I see lots of complaints. But no suggestions for alternatives.

    (Example of a bad alternative: Google Hangouts. Some of my correspondents don't have skype and set up a business conference on that. Turns out Netscape removed the feature it depended on (as a glaring security tarpit) back in March, and Google has yet to come up with an alternative so I had to install a variant that could still run it - miss the first about eight minutes of the meeting when it didn't join correctly - and later unscrew my browser history after it made itself the default - for a total loss of several hours of work time. Also: It assumes video is almost always wanted (a bandwidth disaster) and makes it nearly impossible to do voice-only without an initial video connection.)

    So:
      * What are good alternatives?
      * Are there any good open source alternatives?

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    1. Re:So what are good alternatives? by kaur · · Score: 5, Informative

      Wire.

      https://wire.com/en/privacy/

      Open source, open protocol, end-to-end crypto.
      Based in Berlin thus not subject to US laws.

  9. Blocking old versions should be forbidden by allo · · Score: 2

    It's absolute evil to block old versions without a real need. People may have reasons to stay with this version. And when they now make a hipster version, they have even more reasons.

    1. Re:Blocking old versions should be forbidden by allo · · Score: 2

      Yeah, i should really sue them. My username is older than google ...