Skype 4.0 For Linux Officially Released

[lopho]

the new linux client does _not_ include the new advertisment system "yet".

sauce:

http://www.golem.de/news/verbessert-skype-fuer-linux-und-mac-os-x-in-neuer-version-1206-92543.html

(in german)

[AnonymousCoward]

That's fairly ridiculous indeed! And commercial companies do have a tendency to ruin things in order to make more money. The funny thing is that at the moment it seems like the Linux version doesn't have these ads (and it also doesn't have the shitty interface the windows version now has), probably because MS wouldn't make a lot of money from ads on the Linux version anyway but it is still peculiar that in a way, MS is doing exactly the opposite of screwing over Linux users.

Appease the (usually more technically inclined) Linux users so they don't go looking for replacements to replace Skype on the machines of the people they want to communicate with?

On another note, the notion of Microsoft using wine to run stuff on Linux is pretty amusing.

[Delgarde]

Skype for Linux is and was always a native Linux-application.

Which is why there's some griping on the blog about language support. Seems the Windows and Linux versions are different enough that they don't benefit much from common string translations...

[Delgarde]

Better..?
How are they better? Don't get me wrong, i'm a very big open source fan, but there actually is nothing in linux land that comes close to skype in terms of easy to use and call quality. All oss alternatives are tedious to setup and sometimes even hard to get working at all (with the microphone). I know because i actually tried a lot of them! The oss alternatives still have a lot to learn from skype.

Not OSS, but my friends and I have started using Google Hangouts for voice chat lately. We find the experience better, particularly if connections are poor - it tends to downgrade sound quality rather than just cutting out like Skype does, so you can still hear what people say even if they sound a bit tinny...

[Delgarde]

There is no REASON to work on yet another replacement or to reverse engineer Skype. Better software is already available. Right now. Much of it already under Open Source Licenses.

Those programs might be better, but the catch is this - Skype is what people are using. It doesn't matter how good those open programs are, if you can't use them to talk to the people you want to talk to. Interoperability is *important*.

[lithorus]

For anyone using Ubuntu 12.04, it seems it's better to install the 32-bit version instead of the "64-bit" version.

[dotancohen]

I use wine (crossover to be specific) every day at work to run MS Office 2003. If I could, I would immediately switch to LibreOffice, but LibreOffice is still not able to handle MS Office documents properly. Most macros do not work and even the layout of normal day to day documents is messed up. LibreOffice still has a long way to go until it can be used as an MS Office replacement in daily business work.

Please remove sensitive information and send to me those documents so that I can help bring LO and AOO up to date. If we don't have real-world test documents, then nothing can be fixed.

Also include a PDF or PNG of the properly-rendered document to show what it should look like! You can send them to <myPhoronixUsername>@gmail.com. Thanks!

[Temar]

Please remove sensitive information and send to me those documents so that I can help bring LO and AOO up to date. If we don't have real-world test documents, then nothing can be fixed.

Also include a PDF or PNG of the properly-rendered document to show what it should look like! You can send them to <myPhoronixUsername>@gmail.com. Thanks!

I see what I can do. These are customer documents and I have to get clearance from my superiors to send them to you. Maybe I get the permission to clean up some of them and send them to you. May take a few days though.

[Luke_Wolf]

What I have to ask is why do they have 3+ separate codebases anyway? My understanding was that Skype uses Qt on all platforms, so given that... then outside of a few bits of platform specific code which I can't imagine would be all that much if they used Phonon or QtMultimedia, QtNetwork, and it's obviously going to be using QtGui or QtQuick..

Not that I want the ads or UI that come with the windows version, but it just seems like a lot of developer time and effort is being wasted on their part for going against the spirit of Qt and doing what they are, or at least what they appear to be doing anyway...

[Azpegath]

Relax, both of you. This is a full native version and nowhere was it suggested that this version has advertisements. Why don't you try it first before you jump to the default conclusion that MS is screwing everyone over.

But what would happen with all the FUD then?