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Microsoft is killing Skype

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Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#371

Post by Lammy »

bayindirh wrote: post #106
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…

I think Microsoft killed it the moment when they made everything move through central servers before everyone had good network connection, everywhere. It was P2P before. It was slow, laggy and unstable for most of the time. Also, they didn't invest in the transportation codecs much. After it's marred, they didn't try to mend it much, and when it started to work well due to better bandwidth, they didn't push it back a…

> I think Microsoft killed it the moment when they made everything move through central servers before everyone had good network connection, everywhere. It was P2P before.

Story in two headlines:

- “NSA offering 'billions' for Skype eavesdrop solution” https://www.theregister.com/2009/02/12/nsa_offers_billions_f... (2009)

- “Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion. Why, Exactly?” https://www.wired.com/2011/05/microsoft-buys-skype-2/ (2011)

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#372

Post by Izikiel43 »

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…

Microsoft didn’t miss their opportunity with COVID, teams user base grew by the millions

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#374

Post by Reefersleep »

addicted wrote: post #353
lawgimenez wrote: post #249

I’m still bitter with Microsoft shutting down Wunderlist.

How does MS ToDo compare to Wunderlist. It’s supposed to be the successor developed by the same team.

Ticktick was the closest approximation at the time of Wunderlist shutdown. Still solid, but haven't researched the market recently. I don't remember details about the Microsoft version except it wasn't good enough.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#375

Post by qingcharles »

Lammy wrote: post #371
bayindirh wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Microsoft killed it the moment when they made everything move through central servers before everyone had good network connection, everywhere. It was P2P before. It was slow, laggy and unstable for most of the time. Also, they didn't invest in the transportation codecs much. After it's marred, they didn't try to mend it much, and when it started to work well due to better bandwidth, they didn't push it back a…

> I think Microsoft killed it the moment when they made everything move through central servers before everyone had good network connection, everywhere. It was P2P before. Story in two headlines: - “NSA offering 'billions' for Skype eavesdrop solution” https://www.theregister.com/2009/02/12/nsa_offers_billions_f... (2009) - “Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion. Why, Exactly?” https://www.wired.com/2011/05/microsoft…

Well, the better ask is why eBay bought it...

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#376

Post by StableAlkyne »

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…

Some suit was probably worried about cannibalizing their Teams business (even though Skype has better name recognition and Teams has a bad reputation).

It's pretty common in the dinosaurs like Microsoft. Kodak for example had working digital cameras very early on, but didn't do anything with them because they didn't want to cannibalize their film business.

Give a suit a KPI, and they're gonna optimize for that KPI.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#377

Post by ccozan »

mastax wrote: post #365
falcor84 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a related note, a bit over a decade ago I had installed logmein on my parents' computer to be able to easily help them with any IT issues. But they since pivoted away from personal accounts and I never found anything else as straightforward. I feel that in a lot of ways tech has regressed. EDIT: I just found that logmein actually offer a personal product again, named GoToMyPC, but what used to be entirely free at…

If you have a decent connection I find just using Windows Remote Desktop (RDP) over VPN (Tailscale) works really well. The value prop for the proprietary services like TeamViewer for me is they work much better over poor connections and cross platform. (Are there any decent RDP servers for Mac/Linux? In any case it’s another thing to have to install.)

Windows has a built in app for remote servicing called QuickAssist. Works perfect, no need to install anything.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#378

Post by TylerE »

StableAlkyne wrote: post #376
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…

Some suit was probably worried about cannibalizing their Teams business (even though Skype has better name recognition and Teams has a bad reputation). It's pretty common in the dinosaurs like Microsoft. Kodak for example had working digital cameras very early on, but didn't do anything with them because they didn't want to cannibalize their film business. Give a suit a KPI, and they're gonna optimize for that KPI.

Remember, Teams was originally "Skype for Business".

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#379

Post by selectodude »

thwarted wrote: post #330
dadoum wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know for other European countries, but at least I can say that it is not true in France. "Coke" is reserved for cocaine, and cola is the generic word for Coca-Cola-like beverages.

I've heard that the French are strict about language, but what does "reserved" mean here? What do the French call coke¹? ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel) ?

Coca cola, coca light, coca zero.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#380

Post by knowitnone »

l33tman wrote: post #124
OvbiousError wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost everything I do for work uses teams, so I can't say MS missed any boats. It's spectacular how pervasive teams is given how universally reviled it is. I'd personally switch back to slack in a heartbeat for instance.

Don't know about Slack's videoconf, but Slack's cheap insistence that we pay a rip-off amount of money per month for storing some TEXT messages more than 90 days has continuously degraded my appreciation for it over the last years to the level of me hating it now. They're so cheap. Just put a quota on total storage or something, that actually map to their costs.. We have a Slack for a shared office of 10 people or so…

you're getting services for free and you call them cheap?
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