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After Making Skype Convoluted and Difficult To Use, Microsoft is Now Rolling Out Features To Restore Simplicity (thurrott.com)
From a report: Microsoft just announced a number of changes the company is rolling out to restore Skype's simplicity and familiarity. When the company introduced the modern Skype, it introduced radical changes that turned the app into an actual, modern app. But of course, that didn't really work too well with some of Skype's classic users. Although Microsoft has made numerous changes to the modern Skype to work better for all users, there were still a bunch of things in the app that no one really needed. And one of that was Highlights -- it was a complete clone of Snapchat where you could post pictures/videos that last for a limited time. Unlike other Snapchat clones like Instagram Stories, no one actually used Skype Highlights. [...] The navigation has been drastically improved, now only consisting of Chats, Calls, and Contacts -- the three core parts of Skype. Along with Highlights, Microsoft's also removed the Capture button which opened the Skype camera -- another useless feature that was already accessible from within chats.
"After Making Word Convoluted and Difficult To Use, Microsoft is Now Rolling Out Features To Restore Simplicity"
THAT's the thing I looking to see.
New Skype removed many of the features of classic Skype (at least on Linux it sure did), but there were still a few features left. Now we're going to remove the rest of the features, and just for fun we're going to call the removal of features a feature!
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...remove features that everybody wants ...and then add them back and sell that as an improvement.
Now seriously: I hate the modern dumbing down of UIs. Yes, I understand they're geared towards non geeks and many also designed for touchscreens but at least give us the option to also have a "classic",dense, keyboard-and-mouste-optimized UI. And, at the very least have some way to configure the "advanced" options, even if it's something as ugly as Firefox's "about:config"
Skype for business was Skype in name only. It was a re-branding of their Lync product they felt was necessary after the piles of cash they spent buying Skype.
Squash
Menus may not be "pretty", but they are an excellent way of sorting the available options in a mostly coherent and discoverable manner that a ribbon, a hamburger icon or a random vomit of "is that a button or superfluous decoration" can never hope to achieve.
Unfortunately, however, pretty is apparently more important than practical, discoverable or user friendly.