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Microsoft is killing Skype

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Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#311

Post by manuelabeledo »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #303
legitster wrote: post #270

Skype is the epitome of technical debt. Millions of lines of code for a service that isn't technically difficult to provide anymore. When I was at Microsoft, I was told working on Skype was about as popular as being sent to a gulag. The value of the brand is so strong, I am surprised they never launched a "2.0" version built from scratch and without all the vestigial tails.

> The value of the brand is so strong, I am surprised they never launched a "2.0" version I am not. The brand is strong in a negative way, I have never met anyone who ever liked Skype.

I have. Skype was very popular in many places around the world.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#312

Post by tombert »

Damn, this is the primary way I talk to my parents and my grandmother.

Genuine question, what do people here recommend as a replacement for non-technical people? I'll need to walk my grandmother through the process of setting something remotely.

No one in my family but me has iPhones, so I think Facetime is out, and I'd need something that can run on a computer. I suppose I'll have to talk my parents into installing Signal desktop, but I was kind of hoping for something that gave you the "user is online" status thing like Skype does.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#313

Post by no_wizard »

akgoel wrote: post #272
bloomingkales wrote: post #258

What happened? It's kind of hard to fuck up a chat app. The Skype ring tone is iconic.

It was a p2p phone and video call app that Microsoft purchased when mobile phones started to take off. Phones cannot participate in a p2p network the same way a desktop can, so it had to be re-architected to use central servers, and they never got it to work the same after that.

Wonder if P2P networking is hindered by the hardware back then vs now. I can imagine now most phones could deal with P2P networking just fine.

Software wise though idk if there is limitations baked into iOS and Android that limit this

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#314

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

legitster wrote: post #270

Skype is the epitome of technical debt. Millions of lines of code for a service that isn't technically difficult to provide anymore. When I was at Microsoft, I was told working on Skype was about as popular as being sent to a gulag. The value of the brand is so strong, I am surprised they never launched a "2.0" version built from scratch and without all the vestigial tails.

This Joel on Software blog post is now 25 years old, https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-..., but when it first came out it was widely viewed as gospel.

I'm generally a big fan of Joel Spolsky, but in retrospect, I think this advice is just wrong, and I think Skype is a perfect counterpoint. That is, sometimes a rewrite is a horrible idea, but at the same time sometimes not doing a rewrite is a horrible idea. If making changes to the code becomes such a nightmare that your rate of progress is much less than your competitors, you're going to lose.

While there is still some good advice in that blog post, hard-and-fast rules are rarely correct. Most things in engineering are tradeoffs, and it's tough to know sometimes what the right balance is.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#315

Post by kobalsky »

Been using Skype Manager to handle numbers for a few accounts in our business. I haven't found info if it will be possible to migrate these numbers to Teams. Does anyone have info about this?

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#316

Post by sumitgt »

tombert wrote: post #312

Damn, this is the primary way I talk to my parents and my grandmother. Genuine question, what do people here recommend as a replacement for non-technical people? I'll need to walk my grandmother through the process of setting something remotely. No one in my family but me has iPhones, so I think Facetime is out, and I'd need something that can run on a computer. I suppose I'll have to talk my parents into installing…

Why not just use something like Google Meet? You send a link and the other person just needs a browser.

It's a pain to deal with syncing issues on Signal Desktop.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#317

Post by jjice »

tombert wrote: post #312

Damn, this is the primary way I talk to my parents and my grandmother. Genuine question, what do people here recommend as a replacement for non-technical people? I'll need to walk my grandmother through the process of setting something remotely. No one in my family but me has iPhones, so I think Facetime is out, and I'd need something that can run on a computer. I suppose I'll have to talk my parents into installing…

Google Duo (might be lumped in with Meet now) worked well for me when I was on Android and everyone around be was iOS. It's cross platform and worked out of the box.

Discord probably has a bit more going on since it also has a community focus, but it may be worth looking into since it's a platform that won't be going away anytime soon. It also works from the browser if having them download something is a headache.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#318

Post by aaomidi »

tombert wrote: post #312

Damn, this is the primary way I talk to my parents and my grandmother. Genuine question, what do people here recommend as a replacement for non-technical people? I'll need to walk my grandmother through the process of setting something remotely. No one in my family but me has iPhones, so I think Facetime is out, and I'd need something that can run on a computer. I suppose I'll have to talk my parents into installing…

I gave my grandmother an old iPad I had. It’s been amazing.

She’s also in Iran, so it’s one of the only services that somehow the govt doesn’t target when killing video call apps.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#319

Post by blakeashleyjr »

tombert wrote: post #312

Damn, this is the primary way I talk to my parents and my grandmother. Genuine question, what do people here recommend as a replacement for non-technical people? I'll need to walk my grandmother through the process of setting something remotely. No one in my family but me has iPhones, so I think Facetime is out, and I'd need something that can run on a computer. I suppose I'll have to talk my parents into installing…

I would make the jump to Signal. It's super easy and secure. Has all the features you'd need (minus the online status). It's how I communicate with my whole family.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#320

Post by Juliate »

Will we ever have communication tools more durable and predictable (with known and managed failure modes and privacy expectations) than paper mail?

Standardised protocol? independent of any single entity or subscription? readable without special technology? universal service infrastructure?

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