I wouldn't mind the Electron "Skype for Linux", if it wasn't a pile of crap. If you're going to retire an app for a replacement, make sure the replacement is on parity or better with the original native client. Microsoft has been doing very well in the Linux space since their new CEO, but this is dumb move.
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#92However, the app lacks advanced features like screen sharing and API access. It also excludes advanced video and audio controls that you can access on Windows or Mac OS platforms. Also the beta version does not work reliably or does not work at all. Repeated failures to connect, no messages whatsoever. The older version just works. Maybe if they put to good use that big data infrastructure and analyze the logs that w…
I have been using the new Skype For Linux app since their first alpha release and never experienced any of those problems. It lacks features but was never unstable for me.
Same here, until the recent weeks. Suddenly it started having issues where messages don't show up until I restart the client, while they show up fine on my mobile.
It's certainly a business move to make Linux experience worse, I doubt MS can't put some dedicated engineers and have a proper app.
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#93As others are saying, the new Electron-based app is so bad on so many levels. Recently it has been failing to deliver incoming messages. They don't even appear, it just causes confusion to anyone trying to have a text conversation. Plus the lack of features that versions for other platforms have. At this point it's just better to use web.skype.com on a browser tab. I find that more reliable than the Electron client.…
What I don't understand is what is so complicated. Chat apps aren't exactly rocket science (pretty much the opposite) and have been around since the 90s. Only the live video is more complicated but that doesn't seem to be the main problem with the linux app.
Maybe rather than being about difficulty, it has to do with patents? No idea, just a hunch.
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#94I was wondering what to use for video calls with my father. He has a mobile core 2 duo machine (one of Dell's micro desktop PCs). Skype stopped working as stated in the title. I went with Facebook Messenger on Firefox, but video from his camera is very jerky. It looks like it hangs for a 1s every 1.5s. For me it's an indication of a performance problem - video is converted to a WebRTC friendly format and it's slow. I…
Get Camfrog. For simple 1v1 video chat and chat rooms, nothing beats it, period, and it's free for pretty much every use excepting A. visiting multiple chat rooms at the same time and B. Seeing more than one person at a time in said chat rooms (pond chats are different.) One of the rare programs I actually pay for instead of cracking the crap out of it.
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#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Due to instability and memory/race condition issues with the new sykpe app, I've been using Pidgin and the skypeweb plugin: https://github.com/EionRobb/skype4pidgin/tree/master/skypewe... This works well for me since most of my skype traffic is chats, but I have to load the new skype app for calls.
Nitpick, I assume by "race condition" you mean "used lots of CPU". This is a common colloquial conflation, but race conditions [1] (which are not generally identifiable without aid of a debugger and the application's source code) and high CPU usage are unrelated concepts. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_condition
I've never heard of those two things being conflated.
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#96As others are saying, the new Electron-based app is so bad on so many levels. Recently it has been failing to deliver incoming messages. They don't even appear, it just causes confusion to anyone trying to have a text conversation. Plus the lack of features that versions for other platforms have. At this point it's just better to use web.skype.com on a browser tab. I find that more reliable than the Electron client.…
I've had conference calls with Microsoft using Skype on Windows 10 on a Surface Book, and 3 Microsoft employees still haven't been able to get Skype to work.
I use Skype for Business and not only is it very poorly coded/architected, but the design paradigms actually make communication harder.
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#97No one is talking of chat logs. My Skype logs with my brother are incredibly important and go back several years as we live on separate continents but pretty close nonetheless. This would be horrible -- if I hadn't switched to Windows 10 thanks to Windows Subsystem for Linux. If you do the same, here's how I set up, hopefully helpful to converts like me: https://github.com/chx/chx.github.io/wiki/How-I-set-up-my-Wi...
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#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I couldn't agree more. We've been using Skype for internal communication for a very long time. Back then it was the only option that worked on all the OSes we need (Linux, Windows, Mac), had all the features, and it just worked. But the Electron app is just damn terrible. The message layout is super inefficient - it can display maybe half the messages compared to the native client. If you click somewhere, it un-expec…
What reliable alternatives would you suggest?
That very much depends on what are your requirements. If you need all the stuff skype supported originally - chat, voice, video, screen sharing etc. then I don't have a solution I'm afraid, particularly if you need support for various operating systems.
What we need for the internal communication (within the company) is a simple IM, integrated with ticketing system (a bunch of generic rooms, per-ticket rooms, linking from tickets, ...). We're pretty much set on using Mattermost for that, which has the advantage of being self-hosted.
For voice (typically group calls with other engineers) we'll probably stick with Skype for now (I the Android app on my phone for that). For meetings with customers we usually use a regular service with dial-in anyway.
We don't do video, and I don't think I've needed screen sharing in the last few years.
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#99I was wondering what to use for video calls with my father. He has a mobile core 2 duo machine (one of Dell's micro desktop PCs). Skype stopped working as stated in the title. I went with Facebook Messenger on Firefox, but video from his camera is very jerky. It looks like it hangs for a 1s every 1.5s. For me it's an indication of a performance problem - video is converted to a WebRTC friendly format and it's slow. I…
Do your dad a favor and buy him a tablet. I'd recommend an iPad for longevity and security reasons.
The previous team I was on was internal corp IT. Everyone was begging to ditch GotoMeeting and move to Skype.
But Skype was awful as well.
So we tested Zoom/Bluejeans/Hangouts and others (went with Zoom, fwiw).
We quit bothering with desktop/browser apps for video, and generally stuck to phone for audio only.
The Android and iOS experience with all of them was much less flakey.
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#100I'm happy about this. Finally a good excuse to get rid of it rather than having to go "but Wire has better privacy and is open source", which is of course my real reason for moving away.