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Microsoft Won't Force You To Use the New Skype Just Yet (neowin.net)
A few weeks ago, Microsoft launched Skype version 8.0 to replace Skype classic, or version 7. The company initially said that Skype classic would stop working on September 1st, but today, it extended the deadline and said it would continue to support the older application for the time being. Neowin reports: Spotted by Brad Sams of Thurrott.com, the information was posted as an update to a support forum that originally said when Skype v7 would be killed off. The update says the following: "Based on customer feedback, we are extending support for Skype 7 (Skype classic) for some time. Our customers can continue to use Skype classic until then. Thanks for all your comments - we are listening. We are working to bring all the features you've asked for into Skype 8. Watch this space." Microsoft didn't provide a new end of life date for Skype v7, but there's no doubt that it's still coming. Eventually, you'll have to move to Skype v8, or the UWP app if you're on Windows 10.
... when they shut off 7, I'll be off skype.
Last week I tried v8. And was relieved that there was still some place to download v7. What remained of the user interface was a bad attempt to map a screen-limited smart phone app onto a desktop.
I don't know anyone who still uses Skype. Everyone has moved to WhatsApp or Facebook's Messenger.
Although there is a desktop version of WhatsApp, it is still tied to your phone. In other words, you still need to have it installed on your phone and you need to provide a phone number for it to work. Not everyone wants to have their messaging app tied to their phone number. And many people do not want to have a Facebook account at all due to numerous privacy concerns.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
That would require all developers to implement their software two ways, one with and one without systemd, wouldn't it?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I use it for international phone calls.
+1.
Windows 10 sucks. In more ways than one. Not only is it slow even on newer machines, bit calls home FAR too often.
I run Win 10 in a VM. But it's a VERY good machine, so I can assign resources to the VM beyond most laptops. Even so, 10 is sluggish, and my network monitor is constantly popping up, telling me that 10 is telling Microsoft about damned near everything I try to do.
I only have a couple of programs I still need Windows for, so for the most part I'll stick with Linux and MacOS.
THEY keep getting faster, and don't care what I do.
Oh... and my go-to version of Windows is 7. It is far more performant and far less snoopy.
Yeah, right, Facebook. Sorry, your view is skewed by the biased selection of friends. At most 10% of the people I know use Messenger. NOONE I know uses WhatsApp. At least 50% use Skype at work to some extent, ~10% use it a lot, maybe 30% in private life as well.
Depends on the group. Most of the people I know don't even have an FB account and strongly refuse to create one, so Messenger is not even an option. WhatsApp... Does that even have a desktop version? Without it it won't matter much in a business context for at least a few years. If it does, it's not advertised enough.
Yeah, my study group is biased just as well. But I acknowledge that and do not try to draw absolute conclusions like you do, because those would be "Messenger is niche, WhatsApp is completely irrelevant (why is it even alive? Teens?) and Skype trumps both, with old-school SMS texts, Slack, etc. covering the rest of the market." Not very convincing, right?.
Lot's of apps have both the init.d and the systemd startup scripts. Also init.d works in systemd systems.
We have three offices, two in the US and one in eastern europe. The bay area office uses slack and RHEL, the midwestern office uses email and windows, and the eastern europe office (the largest, their wages are about 20% us wages) uses Skype and some combination of windows and linux.
I know WhatsApp is very popular in south america, most of western europe and chunks of asia, but Skype is still huge in eastern europe for some reason. I don't know why. I think because everyone already has their friends lists setup. Skype has as many users as Twitter (300 million), probably more because Skype users aren't typically bots.
moox. for a new generation.
I fixed the subject line for you.
At least with Gentoo Linux, you can decide whether you want systemd or not. It works fine either way.
People are reticent to upgrade because the new version is yet another triumph of Obfuscation Of Functionality for Microsoft.
Let's hide shit under nearly invisible screen cues with no tooltips and watch people twist in the wind! WOO! FUNNY!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Everyone I know has moved to wire.app. Encrypted text, voice & video. Not tied to a phone number. Works on win, mac, linux, android, ios. Free. Open source.
Are they going to reinstate the APIs on which my Skype certified DECT handset depends?
Yeah, thought not.
Another perfectly functional load of hardware gone to landfill.
I use (the old) Skype as it allows a convenient way to screen sharing + group video chats + ability to run multiple accounts at once (this makes it useful for remote support for clients .. I can switch from video to screen sharing mid-chat etc.). Neither WhatsApp nor FB messenger can do those things; HangOuts is a privacy nightmare and seem to be very few people using it. Actually, there doesn't seem to be any reasonable alternatives, and the new UWP skype is a feature and UI regression. Skype came many years before almost everything else - when Microsoft bought Skype they had a relatively widely used product, early mover advantage, a decent range of functionality that still surpasses almost everything else in the market today, a parent company with a huge budget, unparalleled marketing reach and platform distribution... and they still managed to run it into the ground and F'ck it up completely with this 'new Skype'. It's practically a case study in how not to manage software. And yet I keep thinking about that Microsoft project manager who giddily tweeted about the new Skype like an excited schoolgirl.