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Microsoft is killing Skype

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Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#211

Post by pimeys »

wkat4242 wrote: post #163
fh973 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany, MS was very successful though to get organizations on Teams during the pandemic. Zoom is not a thing. Sure, it's nice to brand the verb, but when the product behind it is EOL, why bother.

That's because teams was offered for fee with m365 which most companies used anyway. Having said that, Zoom is an absolutely terrible product. The backdoor they installed in Macs for example and then when it was brought to light refused to remove it until Apple was forced to blacklist the application. They're either incompetent or evil.

Looking at the Linux version with their hard coded list of supported distros when trying to share your screen...

I'd say both.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#212

Post by xnx »

chneu wrote: post #147
freetime2 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was using Google Voice for a while, which is nice because it is free and never had any issues receiving SMS. A US phone number is required to activate, so I used a US relative's phone number to activate and then just disabled all the forwarding features so calls and SMS would never be forwarded to that number. Unfortunately, I went so long without actually using it that they took my number away (my fault because th…

I've been using Gvoice pretty much since it started. I'm just as surprised as you that Google hasnt killed it. The writing has seemed to be on the wall a few times but it's still around, thankfully. When they semi-killed hangouts a couple years ago I thought for sure Gvoice was gone.

Google Voice is weird. It seemed like they should've killed it, but they just added a few minor features this week.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#213

Post by dole »

high_na_euv wrote: post #138
drooopy wrote: post #101

The way Microsoft and Skype missed their opportunity during the pandemic to maintain or even expand their lead in video conferencing, while allowing a complete unknown (outside of the corporate world, at least) like Zoom to become the dominant platform, should be studied in business schools. The term 'Skype' is so synonymous with video calling that, based on personal experience, it is still used in place of FaceTime…

Missed? They grew Teams, lol. Zoom - wtf, who the hell uses it after. Discord would be better example since it is huge, even LLVM community uses it

Zoom is widely used in US city and state government departments because of the ease of use and pricing, basically free.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#214

Post by ljm »

hnlurker22 wrote: post #210
dcminter wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I think their big, incomprehensibly stupid manoeuver was the Skype vs Skype for Business (Link) split. Had they merged them into a single client that could speak either protocol and share contact lists the story would have been very different. Why are megacorps so incomprehensibly clueless about this? Is the money pit so deep that they knock each other in while in-fighting for control on the edge of it?

This is what happens when you hire leet code engineers and they become managers. Look at Google now. This isn't some magical outcome of big corps. A big corp is practically the people who work there.

It’s not really about ‘leet code engineers’ getting into management but the perverse incentives involved in climbing up the corporate ladder.

It’s as if it doesn’t matter what project you pitch and what the fallout is as long as some KPI somewhere gets a boost. Just get your promotion and ride off into the sunset, someone else will deal with the aftermath.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#215

Post by PaulHoule »

What's disappointing about it to me is that Skype has been my "mobile" telephone for more than 10 years. Upstate NY has cell phone dead spots in it bigger than some European countries but go to a gas station with a tablet and Skype and it works great.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#216

Post by yardie »

fh973 wrote: post #149
kaon_ wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. In German the word for "video-calling" is "Skyping". Similar to MSN, the strength of the brand and goodwill that it has in some geographies is on-par with Google for search, or Coca Cola for coke. The fact that the software got consistently worse, year on year on year is hard to grasp for me. Microsoft made the right call to cannibalize and use teams. But how was Skype such a pain? Not being able to share scree…

In Germany, MS was very successful though to get organizations on Teams during the pandemic. Zoom is not a thing. Sure, it's nice to brand the verb, but when the product behind it is EOL, why bother.

Zoom was popular with at home schoolkids. Because to use Teams you had to have a Microsoft acccount first. Zoom was a link, a meeting ID, and password. Sometimes just a link.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#217

Post by bayindirh »

hnlurker22 wrote: post #210
dcminter wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I think their big, incomprehensibly stupid manoeuver was the Skype vs Skype for Business (Link) split. Had they merged them into a single client that could speak either protocol and share contact lists the story would have been very different. Why are megacorps so incomprehensibly clueless about this? Is the money pit so deep that they knock each other in while in-fighting for control on the edge of it?

This is what happens when you hire leet code engineers and they become managers. Look at Google now. This isn't some magical outcome of big corps. A big corp is practically the people who work there.

Microsoft is built on completely different ethos and evolved from there.

(I think it was Paul Allen is who said it) "Microsoft is a corporation built upon the idea of intellectual property". So being closed source, aggressive safeguarding of IP and locking users in is the DNA of Microsoft.

Yes, company is made of people, but there's also a foundational DNA. When you keep that DNA alive, the company changes and eats the people fed into it, without evolving (See Apple, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, OpenAI, etc.). Google's DNA has been changed from the top from a powerful but gentle giant to subtle but very evil giant.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#219

Post by potato3732842 »

ljm wrote: post #214
hnlurker22 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what happens when you hire leet code engineers and they become managers. Look at Google now. This isn't some magical outcome of big corps. A big corp is practically the people who work there.

It’s not really about ‘leet code engineers’ getting into management but the perverse incentives involved in climbing up the corporate ladder. It’s as if it doesn’t matter what project you pitch and what the fallout is as long as some KPI somewhere gets a boost. Just get your promotion and ride off into the sunset, someone else will deal with the aftermath.

It's not just about incentives. It's about selecting for the kind of people who succeed under those incentive structures.

Even if you're hiring a cross section of the population or a cross section of software developers or management professionals only a slice of it is gonna stick around long enough to influence the organization.

For example, you don't find a lot of Ron Swanson types working for insurance, the court system, or health and safety. Those personality types are either gonna find a new job, turn into a bitter shell of a person counting the days to retirement or go postal and finding a new job is obviously the superior option.

The comparison between Google and Microsoft (or whatever) is gonna be similar though the differences will be more nuanced. Same thing for big banks. Same for big oil. Same for big anything. You've got these differing corporate cultures and incentive sets and they select for different people.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#220

Post by osigurdson »

drooopy wrote: post #101

The way Microsoft and Skype missed their opportunity during the pandemic to maintain or even expand their lead in video conferencing, while allowing a complete unknown (outside of the corporate world, at least) like Zoom to become the dominant platform, should be studied in business schools. The term 'Skype' is so synonymous with video calling that, based on personal experience, it is still used in place of FaceTime…

Teams is used quite a bit.
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