Skype group video calling becomes free • Hacker News Board

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#71

Post by eriktrautman » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:27 PM UTC

eitally wrote: post #29

ballpoint wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah everyone I know hates switching to G+ for group calls. We have to use Skype to guide people through the G+ interface and get them on a group call.

Why not just point them at http://g.co/hangouts ?

That is in theory a great link because I have the problem of trying to figure out how to actually start a hangout all the time with users. I say in theory because, oddly, if I sign in with one G+ account it takes me right into a Hangout after authentication and any other G+ accounts take me to the beautiful landing page which is completely broken (nothing happens after filling in the form).

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#72

Post by Someone » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:29 PM UTC

yen223 wrote: post #56

coherentpony wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, FaceTime's quality has surpassed the others as of recent. Partly due to the new retina screen and HD iPhone camera.

I suspect it's some magical data compression technique, because my overseas video calls usually suffer from serious stuttering on Skype, but on Facetime it's smooth as silk. Either that, or better bandwidth because less people use Facetime.

Better bandwidth is not a function of number of users, but of what you want to spend per user.

I don't have personal experience comparing the qualities of Skype vs FaceTime, but I guess Apple is willing to spend more per user. That makes sense: FaceTime sells hardware, and that brings in money, while Skype seems more like a land grab, especially with this 'group calls are free, too' change. It could also be defensive, with Microsoft thinking they have to offer this to prevent would-be Office 365 users from migrating to Google docs.

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#73

Post by spankalee » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:32 PM UTC

atonse wrote: post #5

Funny - because just last week I setup new dummy google plus accounts for various family members in Europe and India so we could use hangouts without polluting our regular gmail accounts with Google+ nonsense. We won't need that anymore - We were perfectly happy with Skype, but missed group video.

I work for Google, so I'm obviously biased here, though I don't always like everything we do around our sites and integration.

But, I'm genuinely curious, what nonsense does Google+ pollute your regular Google account with? I believe that you get a profile page, but you can leave it entirely blank.

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#74

Post by webwanderings » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:33 PM UTC

subdane wrote: post #64

Another neat fact - announced in a Youtube video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4C1DGzHiis&list=PLaLRbjVhH6...

Strange, on their website, they "recommend" group talking with 5 people. On above YouTube video, they said, you "can" talk with 10 people.

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#75

Post by BHSPitMonkey » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:33 PM UTC

joshstrange wrote: post #62

frabcus wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you find that link? Or indeed, the page it points to? I've never seen either before.

I too would be interested in knowing where you found that. It has a beautiful interface and solves my #1 annoyance with google hangouts which is: "Where do I go to start one?". Every time I try to use Hangouts I invite a friend but they never get the invite or the other way around and we spend 5min getting it setup when we could have used Skype and had zero issues. Trust me I am all for getting off Skype but hangouts…

You have always been able to just visit https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/ to directly open a new empty hangout. This is equivalent to clicking "New Video Hangout" in the G+ sidebar. Also, you can give anyone a direct link to any hangout (e.g. via email or text).

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#76

Post by webwanderings » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:36 PM UTC

spankalee wrote: post #73

atonse wrote: post #5

Funny - because just last week I setup new dummy google plus accounts for various family members in Europe and India so we could use hangouts without polluting our regular gmail accounts with Google+ nonsense. We won't need that anymore - We were perfectly happy with Skype, but missed group video.

I work for Google, so I'm obviously biased here, though I don't always like everything we do around our sites and integration. But, I'm genuinely curious, what nonsense does Google+ pollute your regular Google account with? I believe that you get a profile page, but you can leave it entirely blank.

I add to this "concern". The reason I would not use G+ Hangout (although it may be a fine product, based on the feedback I have seen) is because I do not trust Google for all kinds of deep integration in multiple products.

I am fine using Skype with one particular ID because I am not using that ID on any other system. And that is how I prefer to use Internet everywhere, which I am sure many do as well.

I stopped using YouTube for commenting because of this reason exactly.

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#77

Post by jonknee » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:37 PM UTC

kyrra wrote: post #39

sremani wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer Skype over Google Video in that I can pick my call on my PC, laptop, phone or Xbox One. Imagine having a group call on Xbox One - TV, that would be a sweet conversation and I for one really appreciate this new feature.

Google Hangouts work on PCs, laptops, and phones. When I get a hangout call, it rings on all devices where I'm currently logged into hangouts. TV is the only place Xbox wins today. Though google does have some TV toys right now (Google TV and Chromecast). They could probably look into adding a webcam to that with hangouts.

They have a TV solution for conference rooms, but it's "enterprisey" in that it's not cheap and comes with an annual fee.

https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/business/solutions/for...

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#78

Post by shmerl » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:39 PM UTC

I hope open protocols will catch up already. XMPP/Jingle has user side multiplexing for a while (MUJI), but it requires decent bandwidth. It's a deferred XEP for some reason though. Also, most clients lack support for it. Server side multiplexing wasn't standardized for some reason, so XMPP servers didn't come up with anything common so far.

Skype remains just another proprietary walled garden communication network which in addition can't be trusted. It should be avoided.

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#79

Post by coherentpony » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:40 PM UTC

yen223 wrote: post #56

coherentpony wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, FaceTime's quality has surpassed the others as of recent. Partly due to the new retina screen and HD iPhone camera.

I suspect it's some magical data compression technique, because my overseas video calls usually suffer from serious stuttering on Skype, but on Facetime it's smooth as silk. Either that, or better bandwidth because less people use Facetime.

Maybe, yeah. I have a feeling the networking is the bigger culprit. In any case, there are definitely fewer users on FaceTime than on Skype.

Re: Skype group video calling becomes free

#80

Post by secfirstmd » Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 5:40 PM UTC

devx wrote: post #3

I hope TextSecure/Whisper will get to have video-calling, too, soon. People need to stop using insecure platforms like Skype that make mass spying so easy.

Agreed!