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Microsoft is killing Skype

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Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#621

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

pentagrama wrote: post #490
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 2.0 version of Skype is Microsoft Teams, and they built it from scratch. Along with the Skype code, the Skype brand was also thrown in the trash. You could question that decision—perhaps keeping both brands for different target demographics would have been a better move. Teams could be for work and business, while Skype (powered by Teams' code) could remain for regular consumers. But I’m not sure. Maybe it’s bett…

Thanks, that's a good point that makes the most sense to me - MS didn't rewrite it because they essentially didn't need to, they already had something else.

Totally agree about the brand fumble. I think Teams is the least known/used brand by consumers, but honestly maybe these days that really doesn't matter that much from a money-making perspective.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#622

Post by nimish »

notpushkin wrote: post #548
zx8080 wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> microsoft > had no idea how to manage a B2C product What does this mean? MS has enough of b2c products. Windows is. Office is. Not enough?

It does have B2C products, but does it know how to manage them?

Bingo

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#623

Post by Scoundreller »

TheKarateKid wrote: post #598
Lammy wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amusingly KaZaA itself was one of my first experiences using an “alternative” client for something. There was KaZaA Lite which removed the bundled Cydoor malware, K++ which added hax features like unlimited searches and forced 1000 node reputation, and the most famous KaZaA Lite K++ which did both. Lots of others too like “KL Extensions”, K-Sig, K-Dat, but those were the two big ones.

Wow that was a blast from the past. I remember hanging out on the K-Lite forums back in the day and when a new release was exciting.

Back in the day when you could download random .exe’s with relatively low risk.

Feels unconscionable today that I used to do that from paytv forums.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#624

Post by giancarlostoro »

lxgr wrote: post #510

Skype (the original product/service, before Microsoft's corporate hug of death) was an amazing piece of technology. It was pre-cloud in every aspect, not only using P2P for actual VoIP traffic but also for contact list management and node discovery (via DHT and promoting random people's PCs to act as core nodes! Opening up Wireshark on my laptop when on fast university Wi-Fi with a public, unfirewalled IP was quite t…

Smart phones killed Skypes rich P2P. Then Microsoft added permanent nodes too little too late. The synching was awful on mobile too. The app would lock up waiting to download every single chatlog going back years. Just download the last ten and quietly download the rest in a separate thread.

Microsoft was not fast moving enough to keep Skype at its prime.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#625

Post by giancarlostoro »

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…

Smartphones killed Skypes strong P2P presence.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#626

Post by imperfect_blue »

falcor84 wrote: post #244
Timpy wrote: post #240

Back in the Windows 7 days I installed Skype on my parents computer before moving abroad, their user experience was basically like receiving a phone call. Even though they weren't tech savvy we never had any issues. I would call them, and if they were home and near the computer, they could answer it and we'd be video chatting. A year or so ago I found this to be impossible, there was no application for desktop that w…

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…

Windows actually has a built-in remote assistance tool now called Quick Assist. It provides a simple way to remotely control another Windows machine with user consent, without requiring third-party software. It's preinstalled on Windows 10 and 11—just launch 'Quick Assist' from the Start menu, generate a session code, and connect. While it's not as feature-rich as a full remote desktop solution, it's more than enough for parental IT support.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#627

Post by anacrolix »

dartos wrote: post #615
anacrolix wrote: post #590

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The tech works and is great. But it's not in the interests of the megacorps that took over from 2008ish onwards.

Well that and people seem to really enjoy (or at least feel compelled to use) social networks. Social networks tend to be pretty difficult in p2p systems since the amount of traffic usually scales exponentially with network size (as posts get published to followers and shared over and over by the users of the network), which you’d want to maximize

I don't buy it. DHT systems have mechanisms to handle hotspots in the network.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#628

Post by dartos »

anacrolix wrote: post #627
dartos wrote: post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that and people seem to really enjoy (or at least feel compelled to use) social networks. Social networks tend to be pretty difficult in p2p systems since the amount of traffic usually scales exponentially with network size (as posts get published to followers and shared over and over by the users of the network), which you’d want to maximize

I don't buy it. DHT systems have mechanisms to handle hotspots in the network.

There’s nothing to buy.

Say I have 100 followers and each of them have 100 followers.

Then say I make a post and all of my followers repost it.

That’s an explosion of updates that need to be sent around for 101 interactions.

These major social media platforms handle millions of interactions per second with accounts that have millions of followers and posts that get hundreds of thousands of reposts.

When there’s a centralized system, it’s easier to make sure everyone gets all their posts. Very little need to propagate every single update across every node in your whole network. From a user standpoint it’s seamless as well

It’s nothing unsolvable, but it’s much harder than a centralized social media platform while providing no visible benefit for the average, non technical, user.

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#629

Post by niutech »

stavros wrote: post #602
1970-01-01 wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>2000's era P2P was wickedly good. I think it's only the WWW that went from wickedly good to sour and evil. The P2P world is just as good as it used to be, just not as force-fed and loud as the unhinged hellscape that is Web 2.0. If you look, you will probably find whatever you're looking for with just a DHT link.

What would you recommend these days? All I know is 2000s software like Shareaza, LimeWire, Gnutella, etc.

As a P2P Skype alternative, there are: Jami (https://jami.net) and Tox (https://tox.chat).

Re: Microsoft is killing Skype

#630

Post by niutech »

mynameisash wrote: post #578
Liquix wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but m$ doesn't have a monopoly on video/instant chat? teams is so objectively bad that anyone who was using skype will move on to a different company's product

> teams is so objectively bad What is better than Teams? I don't love Teams, but it's light years beyond what Zoom provides, and the services that Amazon and Google offer were pretty garbage last time I checked.

Jami (https://jami.net) and Tox (https://tox.chat) are better, being P2P and open source.
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