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Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

arstechnica.com

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Re: Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

#101

Post by meira »

dimino wrote: post #70
meira wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, if everybody knew that a channel is insecure, it would make it a lot less dangerous. The problem is: most of people need it to be safer, and there is no real option.

> The problem is: most of people need it to be safer, and there is no real option. You'll have to elaborate on how this is A) true, and B) there are no options. I can think of a dozen better options than Skype.

A) if you and your contact knows that a channel is compromised, you'll be able to adapt if needed. But if one thinks it is safe, the other don't care about its safeness and it happens to be a compromised channel, the first guy might be in trouble. (B) If the default option was something architecturally safer (like encrypted decentralized mail), they would be able to trust it without need to fully trust the other parts envolved (contact and service).

Re: Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

#102

Post by brokenmachine »

inopinatus wrote: post #77
sandworm101 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I am a professional computer programmer. If I can't figure out how to reset a password on Skype, then what are the chances that a less technical person can do it? The days of 'being good with computers' are gone. UIs change so rapidly that core skills are useless in comparison to daily use. You could be a linux guru with decades of database dev skills, but any 14yo youtuber will probably navigate a website better. I…

This isn't true. I know plenty of "Linux gurus with decades of experience" who navigate websites with the dexterity and awareness of a FPS champion. I don't know if it's a matter of choice or aptitude, but we don't all ossify as we age.

Those linux gurus are getting website experience from daily use.

The point was that you could be a linux guru who doesn't get daily use, then you wouldn't have those skills despite being a linux guru.

Re: Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

#103

Post by brokenmachine »

sandworm101 wrote: post #56
lkrubner wrote: post #18

A personal anecdote: I had the same account on Skype for most of the last 10 years. The same username. It was stable. Lots of people could contact me reliably. It was an account that was created long before Skype was bought by Microsoft. Then came the update that they pushed out last year. Now everyone needed a Microsoft ID to login. There was some kind of "improvement" in the way authentication was done. So I had to…

>I am a professional computer programmer. If I can't figure out how to reset a password on Skype, then what are the chances that a less technical person can do it? The days of 'being good with computers' are gone. UIs change so rapidly that core skills are useless in comparison to daily use. You could be a linux guru with decades of database dev skills, but any 14yo youtuber will probably navigate a website better. I…

I'm technical, and I do get daily use of many many websites, but there's still the odd one that stumps me.

I blame that on the terrible UI of some websites. Especially government ones for some reason.

Re: Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

#104

Post by TYPE_FASTER »

HashThis wrote: post #97
lkrubner wrote: post #18

A personal anecdote: I had the same account on Skype for most of the last 10 years. The same username. It was stable. Lots of people could contact me reliably. It was an account that was created long before Skype was bought by Microsoft. Then came the update that they pushed out last year. Now everyone needed a Microsoft ID to login. There was some kind of "improvement" in the way authentication was done. So I had to…

Microsoft is incredibly messed up on passwords and logins. Office 365 is password hell. They ask to login with a Microsoft account and I login with an Office 365 account, and they reject it. I stopped using my Hotmail account because their password problems blocked me. I had to take my Surface into their Geneius bar because I couldn't login because of password reset problems. I couldn't use my Surface at all for 4 mo…

Yes. Simply entering a username into a Microsoft login page will, depending on the domain you landed on, redirect you before you enter a password.

I'm assuming they are working on merging all accounts across their online products, but it's not seamless.

Re: Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

#105

Post by m_mueller »

jpalomaki wrote: post #61

I'm a bit surprised about how many issues people are having with Skype. I have been using Skype quite heavily for couple of years and I'm not really seeing these issues. For me the sound quality feels really good, as long as the internet connection is ok. The messaging seems to be realiable, I haven't see lost messages or messages coming in wrong order. I'm running on multiple platforms, OSX, iOS and Windows. BUT the…

Have you also tried to use it in corporate networks? Do your mobile devices sometimes go offline?

Re: Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

#106

Post by foota »

allendoerfer wrote: post #66
1ris wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I am a professional computer programmer. If I can't figure out how to reset a password on Skype, then what are the chances that a less technical person can do it? Had the same experience with the german postal service a few week ago. When you register there, you register for their shitty amazon-clone aswell. Turns out, you have only one account with one passwort, but the two sites have different password polices. My…

My hoster introduced a web firewall, which thought my password was a SQL injection and gave me a plain 403 but was disabled when authenticated so allowed me to change my password to something offending again. Had a funny conversation with them where they insisted that this was beneficial, because SQL injections can happen as humans make mistakes. A few days before that another hoster updated its password policy and s…

When I first read this I thought the hoster _mailed_ your password to you. As in snail mail.

Re: Skype finalizes its move to the cloud, ignores the elephant in the room

#109

Post by dimino »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #92
dimino wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't need free speech all the time."

That's not how it works. If you don't fight for your rights, you will lose them.

That isn't what's at stake here, however, so the hyperbole is unneeded.
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