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Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

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Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#281

Post by manyxcxi »

balabaster wrote: post #275

There are viable alternatives to Skype. I've been using Slack ( https://slack.com/ ) for a while too... it does everything useful that you could ask of a chat application and works very much like IRC worked back in the day. Everything it doesn't do natively, there's an integration for, just like with IRC bots. You can do: - Private chat with one or more parties - Open Group chat via channels (both private and public…

Slack is nice and very useful. As you mention there are a ton of integrations- there's cool new uses every day, but I don't see why it would need to be part of your audio/video/conference flow other than as links to join or something of the sort.

For instance, to get everyone into a Join.Me conference I just copy/paste the link into the channel and people connect from their browser/desktop app/phone app- but it would've been the same with email.

I feel like the audio/video is the one place where Slack doesn't really add value to the flow, other than what Slack already does- makes it easier to give the connection info to your group/channel.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#283

Post by alkonaut »

kohanz wrote: post #206
mrmondo wrote: post #123

I'm surprised people still even use Skype, I went really down hill around 5 or so years ago. It's slow, bulky, closed source and it has been disclosed by Edward Snowden and Wikileaks to have ties directly into the prism program with the NSA.

My thoughts exactly. There have been better alternatives out there for a few years now. Whenever a client or customer requests a Skype call these days, there are always a few raised eyebrows.

I'd replace it in a heartbeat if something ticked all the boxes.

- good persistent group chat - good voice quality - single contact list & app for voice+text chat - free (beer)

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#284

Post by chris72205 »

verbify wrote: post #258
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…

I've given up on the NSA not reading my stuff. The NSA collects pretty much anything they can get their hands on. It's a losing battle. If there's something I don't want the NSA to know about, I use Tails.

> I've given up on the NSA not reading my stuff.

This is a scary thought, and I realize I'm increasingly feeling the same way everyday.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#285

Post by cookiecaper »

mrmondo wrote: post #126
pritambarhate wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past year, the Mac client has also become very fragile. If I quit the Skype App without signing out, next time login keeps failing unless I go to the library folder and delete my Skype user profile directory. Quite shameful for such a high profile software.

I do have my own suspicions that a certain company deliberately degrades the quality of any software they release for platforms other than their own.

I agree with you. This is textbook Microsoft. They're also implementing Windows-only features in Minecraft and it wouldn't surprise me if the desktop client begins to suddenly degrade on non-MS platforms at some point.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#286

Post by _jomo »

_jomo wrote: post #255
anexprogrammer wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most things worked far, far better 10 years ago than today. Apparently this is progress. Social everything means we can't visit a website today without calls to a billion external domains. Phones are doing the same as they're mini-tablets that suck at actual phone calls. Operating systems have taken on mobile centric (and the hideous flatten everything) design that is broken paradigm for a 15" laptop or 24" desktop s…

> All that crap should be in official plugins so you add pocket only if you want it etc. They are working on making Pocket a (built-in) add-on. Apparently it's harder than it sounds, but there is some progress going on: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215694 Edit: Apparently that bug is fixed and Pocket is a "system addon" in Firefox 46+ https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/3ba655f6bc67

I found out more about "system" addons. There are different types of addons: app-profile, app-system-addons, app-system-defaults, app-global, app-system-local, app-system-share, app-system-user, app-temporary.

The "app-system-defaults" (in my case Pocket & Loop/Hello) don't seem to be shown to the user, but you can find them in the extensions.xpiState config.

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/file/5f2f4297e6bd...

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#287

Post by bad_user »

balabaster wrote: post #275

There are viable alternatives to Skype. I've been using Slack ( https://slack.com/ ) for a while too... it does everything useful that you could ask of a chat application and works very much like IRC worked back in the day. Everything it doesn't do natively, there's an integration for, just like with IRC bots. You can do: - Private chat with one or more parties - Open Group chat via channels (both private and public…

> It's free(ish)

The free tier has a very limited history, which defeats the point of using Slack, since you lose your history. And there's really no point in using Slack if you don't have a history you can rely on, might as well use IRC.

And once you start paying, $7-$15 per user/month is not what I'd call cheap. It's cheap compared to a salary, but such costs pile up.

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

Which is another way of saying that it doesn't solve the problems that Skype does, so it's not an alternative.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#288

Post by vardump »

agumonkey wrote: post #55
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…

The android client is also a bit random. Notifications pops when they feel like it. Some upgrades change for different kind of wrong.

Android Skype presence colors are messed up.

I compared by running the client on OS X, Win10 and Android in the same time. OS X and Win10 clients seemed to pretty much agree on availability status and to be correct.

But on Android, contacts that are yellow (away) show often as green (available).

Worse, sometimes those who are present show as being offline.

Yeah, pretty random!

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#289

Post by sevensor »

cookiecaper wrote: post #249
anexprogrammer wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most things worked far, far better 10 years ago than today. Apparently this is progress. Social everything means we can't visit a website today without calls to a billion external domains. Phones are doing the same as they're mini-tablets that suck at actual phone calls. Operating systems have taken on mobile centric (and the hideous flatten everything) design that is broken paradigm for a 15" laptop or 24" desktop s…

>Firefox was a stripped down, light browser so it stayed fast - now they include more useless garbage than Netscape Communicator ever did. Sorry, I don't think Pocket and Hello surpasses the junk bundled with Communicator, which came with a custom mail client. Mozilla's mail client is not only not installed with Firefox, but it's also pretty much dead now, in fact.

I'd say the situation now is about the same as it was then. Only the context has changed. Communicator had a mail client and a news client. I used them both over dial-up, back in the day. If enough people still wanted newsreaders, you can bet Mozilla would write one.

Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client

#290

Post by _jomo »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #280
_jomo wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All that crap should be in official plugins so you add pocket only if you want it etc. They are working on making Pocket a (built-in) add-on. Apparently it's harder than it sounds, but there is some progress going on: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215694 Edit: Apparently that bug is fixed and Pocket is a "system addon" in Firefox 46+ https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/3ba655f6bc67

That makes me happier. Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully they did the same for hello.

They did, see my own reply :)
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