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Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

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Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#261

Post by lawl »

saulrh wrote: post #250
lawl wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like you do not understand the concept of static linking, because the entire point is that you don't need a bunch of ifdefs, since you target exactly the version you develop against and ship with it.

The problem is services and non-ABI/non-library APIs. The way I suspect that this is set up is that there is precisely one KDE widget displayer service at any given time, running as part of the desktop environment and presenting an IPC interface that widgets talk to to get themselves added to the widget display area that the window manager maintains. You can link statically to the KDE widget client libraries all you…

While that may very well be true I feel like this doesn't have much to do anymore with:

> with the ABI changing every year for no reason and yet having to support users having all kind of version combinations.

To which I originally replied. And my point here still stands. I'm not arguing about the backwards or forward compatibility of every single library that might or might not use an IPC mechanism to talk to another component which could break if they're different versions.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#262

Post by cookiecaper »

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.

Yeah, I agree. It's a really common excuse and I think it somewhat diminishes the credibility of those who use it. I don't think anyone's opinion on what constitutes a "truly horrible codebase" should count until they've been a developer for at least 10 years, worked at several different employers, and contributed to several different large open-source projects (which usually have the luxury of rejecting code until they feel it's "right" despite the potential commercial consequences, not something that most other projects get to do). "This codebase is terrible" is a common whine from newer devs and/or people that are just too lazy to put in the time to learn someone else's code.

In the real world, production projects get messy because getting stuff done is more important than building a codebase that represents the paragon of academic excellence. That doesn't automatically make the project horrible.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#263

Post by douche »

StreamBright wrote: post #60

My biggest disappointment with the business version the fact that it is impossible to turn off the pop up notification when somebody logs in or out from Skype. Before you post me URL from the support website, non of them works, everybody in the office (10+ engineers) tried to disable this but no success. The only way you block that is to put yourself into do not disturb mode, but than non of the legitimate notificati…

If that's Skype For Business, you've got somebody who set it up in a really bizarre way. It's such a clusterfuck of policies and settings that I'm not sure just where that would be set or what powershell gods you have to worship to straighten it out, but that's not the default out-of-the-box behavior.

The client is trash, though. Never understood why you can't run multiple accounts, or at least multiple instances without massive hoop-jumping. Aside from some reskins, it's the same as the Lync 2013 client, and that wasn't much of a change on the 2010, or even 2007 client.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#264

Post by pbhjpbhj »

dethos wrote: post #237
ElijahLynn wrote: post #161

Stop using Skype. The NSA allegedly collects all Skype traffic anyways. Do you really want that? "The full capture of voice traffic began in February of 2011 for “Skype in” and “Skype out” calls—calls between a Skype user and a land line or cellphone through a gateway to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), captured through warranted taps into Microsoft’s gateways. But in July of 2011, the NSA added the capa…

Yes, there are far better alternatives out there, so if we could stop using skype and switch to something else, would be a great move here. However, the network effect is strong with this one, so it is impractical to make the switch.

Indeed I originally used it because it was cross platform, buy in meant relatives are now trained and comfortable with it. Personally I like HTTPS://appear.in for voice chat but one needs the phonebook, voicemail, online-indicator and such parts for it all to work efficiently.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#265

Post by dublinben »

junto wrote: post #209
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!

Indeed. There are lots of apps that cover parts of its functionality, but not all. We keep trying to introduce new alternatives at work, but to date nothing has passed the test. Calls, group calls, chat, group chat, video, screenshare. For one communications client those are the boxes it needs to tick. Any suggestions?

Jitsi does all of that.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#267

Post by tome »

DominikR wrote: post #242
tome wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing. VoIP -> VoIP is perfect. They really need to choose better PSTNs in that case.

If the destination number is in the t-mobile network then they can't chose that the call doesn't go into t-mobiles network. They can control one part of it, the point where their VoIP is transcoded and switched into the network, here could lie the issue. But the issue could also come from the destination end of the network. I generally believe that US and EU carriers are solid enough that calling there shouldn't caus…

Interestingly enough it's been mostly lineline numbers that I've had problems calling.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#269

Post by balabaster »

thirdsun wrote: post #223
junto wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. There are lots of apps that cover parts of its functionality, but not all. We keep trying to introduce new alternatives at work, but to date nothing has passed the test. Calls, group calls, chat, group chat, video, screenshare. For one communications client those are the boxes it needs to tick. Any suggestions?

No suggestions, but I think those features scream "Slack" in my opinion. It would make a lot of sense to have those features in a service that is the center of communication for many teams anyway.

I've been using Slack (https://slack.com/) for a while too... it does everything useful, and everything it doesn't do natively, there's an integration for. You can do:

- Private chat with one or more parties

- Open Group chat via channels (both private and public channels)

- Voice/Video via numerous integrations including Bluejeans, Appear.in, Skype, Hangouts, you name it.

- ChatOps via services like IFTT & Zapier or even your own custom bridge into your network.

- Get notifications right in Slack from your source control, build servers, JIRA, Confluence and any number of other services via webhook integrations.

- A billion other wicked cool integrations (https://slack.com/apps) that allow you to do just about anything, including the eternally useless, often inappropriate and highly amusing Giphy.

- It's free(ish)... the featureset is restricted on the free account, but it has enough to be useful to small startups even of adhoc members. For teams there is a small per user/per month charge which unlocks a wealth of enterprise ready features.

- It's searchable

Highly recommended and well worth a look for small and large teams alike.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#270

Post by pbhjpbhj »

phillc73 wrote: post #159
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…

> 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. I made a call this morning (6 hours ago) and it worked[0] at that time. I'm not on the same machine right now, but it is a Debian 8 64-bit build. Just installing Skype was a total pain. If there was a viable alternative that had all the services Skype offers (Skype-Out and local numbers as wel…

Ring.CX sounds like it would be a sex-chat phone line, ... Shouldn't matter but it does, it's the GIMP effect.
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