Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

nickforall.nl

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 483 posts

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#191

Post by kbart »

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #31

Skype worked far, far better 10 years ago than it does today. From all indications I've seen, Skype is getting dramatically worse all the time. From a personal standpoint, it crashes for me multiple times a day and I can rarely get group calls working on the first try. Often Skype requires a force-quit and then it crashes twice more when it is being restarted. This is on Mac and Android. Fun fact: I have a friend who…

Skype used to be great, but started to downspiral fast as soon as it was acquired by MS. Before that, Skype was running on all my devices 24/7, but then (after MS acquisition) it started taking way too much resources and crashing constantly what resulted that I barely use Skype anymore, only turn it on when I have to make/receive an international call that was planned in advance. Not to mention forced updates (that resets all user settings and restore defaults from time to time), horrible UI that reminds more of an ancient Yahoo front page than a chat app and all this surveillance mess.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#192

Post by junto »

apatters wrote: post #95

If the claim that the Linux client is no longer able to join calls is true, I think the Skype team really needs to respond. Microsoft has been doing all sorts of cool things lately and it's odd that the Skype team hasn't been a part of this movement toward a modern, multi-platform world. In my little corner of that world as the owner of an agency which spends money on Skype credit every day and uses Skype for a healt…

This might not be the ops problem but the following solved this for me. I had used a bunch of firewall rules to block ads. Inadvertently that blocker blocked key IPs and domains that Skype requires to make group calls and chats. Switching those off made Skype work normally again.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#193

Post by theinternetman »

xiaoma wrote: post #99
nakedrobot2 wrote: post #31

Skype worked far, far better 10 years ago than it does today. From all indications I've seen, Skype is getting dramatically worse all the time. From a personal standpoint, it crashes for me multiple times a day and I can rarely get group calls working on the first try. Often Skype requires a force-quit and then it crashes twice more when it is being restarted. This is on Mac and Android. Fun fact: I have a friend who…

Google talk circa 2008 was a lot nicer than Hangouts is now, too. The resource usage was lower, the UI was nicer and it was more responsive. It's really a shame they killed it.

Not to mention Google Talk was a chat system first and foremost.

Hangouts is a funnel to get you to use their browser (still don't understand why it ships as a plugin) and social network first, chat application second.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#194

Post by lmm »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #137
nakedrobot2 wrote: post #31

Skype worked far, far better 10 years ago than it does today. From all indications I've seen, Skype is getting dramatically worse all the time. From a personal standpoint, it crashes for me multiple times a day and I can rarely get group calls working on the first try. Often Skype requires a force-quit and then it crashes twice more when it is being restarted. This is on Mac and Android. Fun fact: I have a friend who…

>Fun fact: I have a friend who worked for Skype in Prague. He said the codebase is a true horror, an extreme mess, and that soon it would "reach a singularity" Being a developer, I read this and think, what developer thinks any existing codebase is NOT a mess. It's the number one developer complaint ever. They (we?) all think we know a better way.

I've worked on plenty of good codebases. I think the key is continuous improvement. The code from 5 years ago is always going to be worse than today's code, but as long as you're able to improve code as you work on it it doesn't get too bad.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#196

Post by jayarcanum »

Skype on linux is akin to taking fertility drugs on birth control. It's super dumb and always feels dirty for no reason. It installs 127 packages and then removes only 112, leaving me saying I knew this was a mistake so that I could waste 15 minutes with TopTal because they can't get on a hangout. Skype is owned by the original nerd's evil empire what do you expect. Never should have tainted my system...

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#197

Post by lucb1e »

Honestly I'm really happy they haven't updated the client. Looking at the Windows client, I was happy they left a more serious and professional client for the Linux users.

Of course when you can't make calls anymore, it might be time to update the failing component...

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#199

Post by theinternetman »

pentae wrote: post #122

What I don’t understand is - Why is there not a serious competitor to Skype? If there was a cross-platform Skype clone that worked on OSX, Linux, Windows, iOS and Android that was stable and secure - the whole world would jump onto it. All it has to do is not be a bloated piece of crap like Skype. Instead, everything else out there is fragmented. We’re all waiting, get on it already!

Probably because there isn't any money in it so every company that can afford has to use it as a device to push their other products. e.g how Hangouts was designed to push G+ and Chrome usage.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#200

Post by TheHippo »

anon4 wrote: post #154
rdsubhas wrote: post #102

I've been educating as many people (especially Management and Business people) as I can to switch over from Skype to any other alternative (like Hangouts). Because Skype is: * A memory hog * A bandwidth hog (its really inefficient about network usage, and uses a lot of bandwidth even when idle) * Has much lower call quality (a consequence of the above), just try having a call in Hangouts or Skype and notice that Hang…

Skype is shit, but Hangouts is not even a contender * No desktop client * Connected to your google account meaning I'll need to juggle several google accounts to keep my personal and business chats separate Just the fact it doesn't have a native desktop client makes it unusable. I know there are workarounds I can use like nativefier but it's still not as smooth as a desktop app. Running in the browser: - Gets grouped…

> No desktop client

Seeing the level of shitty ported Linux programs I see this as a pro.

> Connected to your google account meaning I'll need to juggle several google accounts to keep my personal and business chats separate

This would be easier with Skype if you have 2 Skype accounts?

When using Chrome:

> - Gets grouped with my other browser windows in my taskbar, making it hard to find

Menu -> More tools -> Add to desktop

Post reply on HN