Skype 1.10 Linux Alpha Restores Video Calls Support

[Chewi]

Is it possible to run linux in some kind of sandbox like flatpak ? coz I don't have any trust in micro$oft

Just use the web version. That's had working video all along. I just pin it in a browser tab so I don't close it by accident and the HTML5 desktop notifications work well.

Funny story while we're on the subject. I once got rather drunk with Mark Spencer, the creator of Asterisk, in 2005. Skype was just starting to catch on but I was rather surprised to find he hadn't heard of it. I told him he should be worried. He drunkenly declared "We'll crush them!!" I wish he had.

[GreatEmerald]

About time, sheesh. But since it works only within Skype Web (I think? I doubt they can make it work only on their own client), it means that other clients (Windows, Android, etc.) are now holding Linux back by being outdated and not based on Skype Web yet. That's an interesting sequence of events.

[uid313]

I just use web.skype.com, then I don't have to download anything.

[Delgarde]

At this point, MS realizes they're not going to win by fighting Linux, so the only way to get people to continue supporting their products is to cram them everywhere people go. Typically, MS only cares about server-related tasks for Linux, but the original owners of Skype had already created Linux clients, so I figure MS is just finishing where they left off.

I think it's simple. The company attitude has changed, because they know that with the rise of mobile, they've lost control of the platform - they can't rely on the omnipresence of Windows for power and influence - and have accepted that other platforms will exist and need to be supported.

So if they want to keep their cash-cows like Office alive, they need to make sure they work everywhere. Same story for Skype - if they want it to be the dominant tool for messaging and voice/video chat, they need to ensure that *everyone* can use it. To do otherwise would leave opportunities for competitors to lure away their customers - and with those customers, taking control.

Short version - cross-platform compatibility is looking attractive to them now that they can't rely on people using their platform. Lacking that compatibility now looks like a weakness.

[Delgarde]

I just use web.skype.com, then I don't have to download anything.

Likewise. I've not tried installing the new alphas, but the web version is certainly much easier than installing a ton of 32-bit compatibility libraries to make the old binary work...

[tuuker]

if only more C and C++ developers could join Tox then Skype would be history soon and become only useful for cheaper real phone calls.

[labyrinth153]

Hey, let's have a video call!
Umm, I don't have any iDevices. That's not a problem is it?

Buy one and it wont be.

[liam]

Buy one and it wont be.

I doubt the conversation would be worth it.

[labyrinth153]

I doubt the conversation would be worth it.

Yeah this one is going well. Git.

[halo9en]

Skype is spyware plain and simple.
As for the alternatives, I've only tried Jitsi and Tox and they never worked too well here...

Any suggestions? Discord? Ring? Linphone? Which one do you use?