Anonymous seems still to be pretty stupid, thinking the FCC applies to the entire Internet when it's only a significant issue for US services, US providers and US customers.
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.
Well, they were wrong from 2003 to 2009 (presumably, from the graph). And you've been wrong since 2009.
My point was that if they were leaving in droves as has been claimed since 2003, it would have hit 1% marketshare ten years ago.
It's not a "steady decline" if it's gone up rather than down consistently during the period I was highlighting either. The fact you have to move the goal posts to even manage to say I'm wrong doesn't make much of a point.
Releasing a new version just for the sake of having a new version every three months seems like a way to just make sure you're introducing potential new issues in your software (... lo and behold I think that's what we see with Firefox more and more, rather than the introduction of great new features).
As someone that uses Firefox everyday, I have not really observed the potential new issues you speak of honestly.
I wouldn't say steadily, but certainly falling. But nothing equating to people "leaving in droves", if that was the case, it would have reached 1%, 10 years ago.
It was also just a bad game. If it wasn't for the brand, it would never have even taken off. I don't really recognize anything of Pokemon in this game.
They even try to make you into an irrelevant villain in this game, except instead of Team Rocket/Plasma/Magma etc. they're trying to make you a Team Valor/Mystic/Instinct grunt.
Hangouts on air is when you can host a Google hangouts session between a few select people and essentially provide the general public the option to view the stream (but not join). It's popular with podcasts, game streamers having discussions etc.
It's a feature built into Google Hangouts, but isn't Google Hangouts as a whole.
Is there a separate Hangouts on Google+ than there is for one's normal Google account?
Sorta, I guess? You can access Hangouts separately on hangouts.google.com, which I don't believe requires a Google+ profile (I could be wrong).
And "Facebook does the same" is not an excuse. Google+ is a competitor to the already established Facebook, it has to offer something different, otherwise, people won't switch.
Google+ did offer something different (circles, clean UI stream etc). But the issue with social networks is to do with user usage to become a self perpetuating reason in it self. There are many people that despise Facebook, but use it regardless because everyone else is there, including people that prefer to use Google+ over it.
The last time I checked, they got rid of it by allowing a pseudonym but requiring that the person choose a public name that included their real name. So I could be "Jason Levine (Pseudonym)", "Jason (Pseudonym)", "Pseudonym (Jason Levine)", etc. Not really helpful if you didn't want your real name publicized.
You might want to check out the Wikipedia page on Nymwars, while there are other better sources available, the article is a good summary of events and what has occurred.
(Yes, I realize that there's something odd about me complaining about a real name policy when I use my real name on Slashdot. I signed up for this account years ago when I didn't care if my real name was out there. I don't want to sign up for a new account so this is one of the few accounts I use with my real name and I never directly reference my pseudonym account.)
My major beef with the service was their real name requirement. Had they gotten rid of that (maybe require real names on the account but let people use "public names" that could be pseudonyms), then I know that I and a lot of other people would have used the service more.
They did get rid of that. Doesn't seem to have worked based off your comment.
In either case, I found myself experiencing the same dilemma not long ago...I was trying to think on what I could set up for my parents for video conferencing for some of my relatives. I was leaning toward Google Hangouts because it's ad free, relatively clean and simple interface, plus most of them have GMail accounts already...what happened?
Sorry, I just don't understand how this affects them really.
Why would just the functionality that allows the general public to view the streams in real time matter to people who are just using it for simple video conferencing for relatives?
Slashdot Mirror
I asked Google and Google said "adverb: every day; adverb: every-day; adverb: everyday". Sorry, I don't see the issue.
Requires existing phone number...
Skype is still the best for telephony interfaces. Hangouts uses technologies similar to webrtc that don't seem to function as well.
Viber doesn't even have a Linux client, nor any of the features I specifically mentioned above.
Then why aren't you giving me examples that alternatives provide the features I specifically noted above?
Anonymous seems still to be pretty stupid, thinking the FCC applies to the entire Internet when it's only a significant issue for US services, US providers and US customers.
To answer your question:
Nope, that's not what they're wishing at all.
I don't see any actual phone support at all in there; much like Discord. I wouldn't say it's even close to getting there.
It's also an adverb.
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.
My point was that if they were leaving in droves as has been claimed since 2003, it would have hit 1% marketshare ten years ago.
It's not a "steady decline" if it's gone up rather than down consistently during the period I was highlighting either. The fact you have to move the goal posts to even manage to say I'm wrong doesn't make much of a point.
You're missing the numbers from 2003 (where it actually went up), which is when I referred to the whole "users abandoning in droves" comments started.
I counter your vague point with my vague point:
I gave up on Chrome, it's always buggy so this is not news.
As someone that uses Firefox everyday, I have not really observed the potential new issues you speak of honestly.
Yes.
I wouldn't say steadily, but certainly falling. But nothing equating to people "leaving in droves", if that was the case, it would have reached 1%, 10 years ago.
People have been repeating this since 2003, yet here we are in 2016... You would expect Firefox wouldn't even be news if this was reality.
To manufacturers: Just put a flap labelled "open for diagnostics" on top of the indicators.
People who want it, will leave the flap open; those that don't, will leave it closed.
Please provide the raw data used.
It was also just a bad game. If it wasn't for the brand, it would never have even taken off. I don't really recognize anything of Pokemon in this game.
They even try to make you into an irrelevant villain in this game, except instead of Team Rocket/Plasma/Magma etc. they're trying to make you a Team Valor/Mystic/Instinct grunt.
Hangouts on air is when you can host a Google hangouts session between a few select people and essentially provide the general public the option to view the stream (but not join). It's popular with podcasts, game streamers having discussions etc.
It's a feature built into Google Hangouts, but isn't Google Hangouts as a whole.
Sorta, I guess? You can access Hangouts separately on hangouts.google.com, which I don't believe requires a Google+ profile (I could be wrong).
Google+ did offer something different (circles, clean UI stream etc). But the issue with social networks is to do with user usage to become a self perpetuating reason in it self. There are many people that despise Facebook, but use it regardless because everyone else is there, including people that prefer to use Google+ over it.
You might want to check out the Wikipedia page on Nymwars, while there are other better sources available, the article is a good summary of events and what has occurred.
There is nothing odd about that.
I'm wondering why people are still going on about it when it's no longer a policy on Google+.
OpenSocial is a standard that is supported by some major social networks.
They did get rid of that. Doesn't seem to have worked based off your comment.
Supposedly there are 111 million active users (according to Enge data) on it, why do you ask?
Sorry, I just don't understand how this affects them really.
Why would just the functionality that allows the general public to view the streams in real time matter to people who are just using it for simple video conferencing for relatives?
No, the Hangouts App contains Hangouts on air support.
Just the Hangouts on air portion.