Microsoft to retire Skype Desktop API • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft to retire Skype Desktop API

#71

Post by namuol » Sun, Nov 03, 2013, 6:59 PM UTC

lucb1e wrote: post #25

namuol wrote: post #18

Hello, Google Hangouts!

Did anyone mention closed source? They just retired their XMPP interface... If there is any way to go, it's not something that is almost equally closed source. Also Google+ and anything related has about the same reputation as Nokia in the Netherlands. I don't know how it is in the US, but here I'm quite sure I can't even find a single friend willing to use that service.

Show me something that is a sufficiently functional open-source equivalent of Skype or Hangouts, and I'll use it. But in the mean time, I have bigger fish to fry than ridding my life of ideologically impure software.

Re: Microsoft to retire Skype Desktop API

#72

Post by Groxx » Sun, Nov 03, 2013, 11:14 PM UTC

code_duck wrote: post #60

Groxx wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much so. I use it at work because we use it for interviews, since most people have it, and their voice and screen-share are more reliable (on nearly every system) than alternatives (which people never have installed anyway). We universally hate it. We haven't found anything better :(

Google Voice/Talk/Hangouts does about the same stuff and has similar market penetration, as far as people's familiarity with the company and likeliness that they already have an account.

Which is why we've been testing Hangouts for such things, yeah :) I have hopes. It's pretty nice for some things. That said, it isn't there yet.

It has the ability to share windows (awesome!), but there's a persistent watermark that's annoying and covers stuff up. Quality is often worse than Skype, which means waiting a few seconds while it clears up the text.

It has crashed and/or disconnected more often (never thought I'd say that, it's kind of hard to beat Skype here, but it has). Acceptably stable still, but it's still an annoyance.

For communication purposes, it doesn't have real persistent chatrooms, so we lose history if someone doesn't check in for a day or so. Same with searching the history.

--

All of which means we still have to resort to Skype for some things, at which point the annoyance of having multiple simultaneous communication systems outweighs our annoyance with Skype.

Re: Microsoft to retire Skype Desktop API

#73

Post by aclevernickname » Mon, Nov 04, 2013, 5:33 PM UTC

vezycash wrote: post #56

The current leadership at microsoft seems to actively trying to destroy the company. Compatibility is a word that could explain microsoft's success. Destroy that and their competitive advantage is none existent. I dont want to say more... But a lot of decisions these days are "change for change sake."

I agree with you, and I hope they continue their glorious plan to follow current trends rather than be market leaders, all the way to the end-goal of being an also-ran or footnote in history.

After watching the last 20 years of Microsoft's rise, domination, and fall, I've concluded that no tech corporation should be the 800lb gorilla for more than 5 years. At that point, it should be considered an area ripe for disruption. I'm seeing Apple, Google, and Canonical (!) falling into that category now. The sooner they're disrupted/replaced, the better off the rest of us will be.

Re: Microsoft to retire Skype Desktop API

#74

Post by vezycash » Mon, Nov 04, 2013, 7:50 PM UTC

aclevernickname wrote: post #73

vezycash wrote: post #56

The current leadership at microsoft seems to actively trying to destroy the company. Compatibility is a word that could explain microsoft's success. Destroy that and their competitive advantage is none existent. I dont want to say more... But a lot of decisions these days are "change for change sake."

I agree with you, and I hope they continue their glorious plan to follow current trends rather than be market leaders, all the way to the end-goal of being an also-ran or footnote in history. After watching the last 20 years of Microsoft's rise, domination, and fall, I've concluded that no tech corporation should be the 800lb gorilla for more than 5 years. At that point, it should be considered an area ripe for disru…

Why is canonical on that list? Well Apple seems to have hit their limit and are experiencing gravity.

I'm heavily vested in microsoft and just wish they'll stop trying to commit suicide.

Re: Microsoft to retire Skype Desktop API

#75

Post by aclevernickname » Tue, Nov 05, 2013, 6:34 PM UTC

vezycash wrote: post #74

aclevernickname wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you, and I hope they continue their glorious plan to follow current trends rather than be market leaders, all the way to the end-goal of being an also-ran or footnote in history. After watching the last 20 years of Microsoft's rise, domination, and fall, I've concluded that no tech corporation should be the 800lb gorilla for more than 5 years. At that point, it should be considered an area ripe for disru…

Why is canonical on that list? Well Apple seems to have hit their limit and are experiencing gravity. I'm heavily vested in microsoft and just wish they'll stop trying to commit suicide.

Canonical is now starting to throw its weight around on things like Graphic interfaces (Semi-proprietary Mir vs. Wayland), User Privacy (Selling Unity Lens search results to Amazon), and then there's the Reality-Distortion Field; Shuttleworth is starting to become a little too much like Steve Jobs (harrassing people like the KWin Author), but without all the legal/business chops Jobs had. People are starting to become Ubuntu zealots. Not linux zealots or GNU zealots, or even those interested in Free Software. just zealots of the Ubuntu distribution. And if you say something against it, they'll downvote and flame away in response.

I moved to Arch and Gentoo, personally.

I wish you luck with your microsoft vestment. I'd advise you to diversify, however; Skills only relevant in a (rapidly decreasing) fraction of the computer market will only provide limited rewards in the future.