160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment • Hacker News Board

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#21

Post by andrewcurioso » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:27 PM UTC

alxp wrote: post #18

andrewcurioso wrote: post #9

There are a couple comments here saying that software developers shouldn't bend to the will of a vocal minority that doesn't like change. I completely agree. However, this is not the case here. I use Skype daily for business and I can say that not a single person that I know who upgraded likes the changes. That isn't a few squeaky wheels. Granted 20 people isn's statisticly significant, but when it is hated by 20 peo…

I like it. Automatically having a group chat when you make a call with multiple people, and saving group chats in your history are the two things that have kept me using the Skype 5 and not downgrading. And now that the focus problem when app switching bug is fixed I really don't have any major problems with it.

So there's one person! ;)

I haven't downgraded either, I keep thinking that I'll get used to it and it will get better.

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#22

Post by mableflapster » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:28 PM UTC

Kylekramer wrote: post #2

If companies dropped everything when a handful of people whined about an interface change in an application, website, or anything of the like, there would never be any updates. This isn't a ringing endorsement of Skype 5 for Mac, but companies can't be held hostage by a few people who don't like change.

I normally agree with you, but this is such a drastic change for the worse. I was excited about the new features, but so turned off by the UI, I downgraded. There will be more negative feedback once it is out of Beta, assuming they don't make drastic changes.

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#23

Post by andrewcurioso » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:28 PM UTC

5teev wrote: post #14

Adium betas? Probably. Skype betas? No, don't think so. I've heard only deep regret from friends who tried the new Skype for Mac.

Same here, I've heard (almost) entirely criticism. Plus, I am a paid Skype customer. It is a little different when you're using a free app like Adium or a free website like Facebook or Digg.

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#24

Post by calloc » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:33 PM UTC

ddemchuk wrote: post #11

doesn't skype have like 10 million users online at any given time? 160 upset people is like dropping salt into the ocean.

Well, there's only like 300 Mac users ;-) That's more than half!

All joking aside, a lot of Mac users are just sticking to the older 2.x series for their Skype client rather than upgrading, so if a 160 people decided it was worth their time to complain on the Skype forums there are probably many more!

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#25

Post by JacobAldridge » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:34 PM UTC

swombat wrote: post #6

160? Every time Facebook changes something they get a million people signing a petition and vowing to quit if Facebook doesn't change it back.

I wonder what Valuation Facebook would have it it were Mac only?

I actually agree with your point, but comparing Facebook users (fraction of 500 million) to Skype for Mac users (unknown to me, but I would suggest less) is not a straight comparison.

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#26

Post by bruceboughton » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:34 PM UTC

trustfundbaby wrote: post #8

Kylekramer wrote: post #2

If companies dropped everything when a handful of people whined about an interface change in an application, website, or anything of the like, there would never be any updates. This isn't a ringing endorsement of Skype 5 for Mac, but companies can't be held hostage by a few people who don't like change.

So do you just conflate all criticism into the 'whining' bucket? A lot of people on that thread were very specific in their feedback. Both pointing out their grouses and what could be done to fix them, so I disagree with your unkind characterization that they were just a 'few people who don't like change' The least Skype could have done was post a simple "Thank you for the posts, we are evaluating all your feedback"…

I suspect Kylekramer is reacting to the inflammatory HN headline.

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#27

Post by andrewcurioso » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

mableflapster wrote: post #22

Kylekramer wrote: post #2

If companies dropped everything when a handful of people whined about an interface change in an application, website, or anything of the like, there would never be any updates. This isn't a ringing endorsement of Skype 5 for Mac, but companies can't be held hostage by a few people who don't like change.

I normally agree with you, but this is such a drastic change for the worse. I was excited about the new features, but so turned off by the UI, I downgraded. There will be more negative feedback once it is out of Beta, assuming they don't make drastic changes.

It is out of beta. And no, they didn't make an drastic changes.

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#28

Post by jv22222 » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:37 PM UTC

mydigitalself wrote: post #20

So let's just think about this for a moment. When Facebook introduced the Feed back in 2006, hundreds of thousands of people protest. Hundreds of thousands. They even had a physical protest outside on their lawn. I think many of you will agree, The Feed is Facebook. Then they made some other tweaks in 2009 with Top News and MILLIONS of people protested in groups. Need I talk about Apple and floppy drives? To date, th…

Facebook is a social network that makes it easy for people to group together and complain about the thing they are using.

For someone to complain about the Skype UI it is much harder, they would actually have to seek out a forum and register with the forum.

So 397 folks actively seeking out and registering + 160 registering to Skype's own forum does say something, no?

I wonder how many people really don't like it, but are living with it because they can't be bothered to seek out and register to complain!

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#29

Post by pluies » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:38 PM UTC

ddemchuk wrote: post #11

doesn't skype have like 10 million users online at any given time? 160 upset people is like dropping salt into the ocean.

160 people upset enough to complain on the forums.

Re: 160 People: Skype 5 for Mac = Fail. Skype: No Comment

#30

Post by comron » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 5:38 PM UTC

knowtheory wrote: post #13

Kylekramer wrote: post #2

If companies dropped everything when a handful of people whined about an interface change in an application, website, or anything of the like, there would never be any updates. This isn't a ringing endorsement of Skype 5 for Mac, but companies can't be held hostage by a few people who don't like change.

The push to talk functionality really is handy though. That was the reason i installed the beta. I did reach a point about 2 weeks ago where the benefit of push to talk was outweighed by the extremely shoddy UI, specifically with regard to window focus. Thankfully the newest beta makes sure that when you flip back to Skype the text input is always the active UI element in your chat (as opposed to the title for whatev…

Not being able to tear out video, or even worse a screen sharing session is very frustrating. Screen sharing someone's 1920px wide screen in half of the Skype window makes screen sharing unusable.