8 ms·

I have witnessed Skype to go from almost perfect video & chat communicator to absolute crap over almost 10 years, and I feel very sad that it has come to rip of

by CSDude 9y ago

I have witnessed Skype to go from almost perfect video & chat communicator to absolute crap over almost 10 years, and I feel very sad that it has come to rip off Snapchat. There is no alternative like the old Skype now in the desktop.

tsukaisute 9y ago
WeChat, while excellent on iOS, is also a lifesaver on the desktop given that they provide true native apps for Mac and Windows (no Electron!) Video/voice calls, file sharing, group chat, stickers, everything is there, but the performance alone makes this more usable over other chat apps today. It seems that over the years, their PM team is more confident (capable?) in keeping a good balance between core chat usability and all the "extras", perhaps because they are not playing catch-up in the market.
- Larrikin 9y ago
  Does WeChat offer any thing over LINE? I ended up uninstalling WeChat because it was using up 20% of my daily battery despite only opening up the app once every couple weeks.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - jwong_ 9y ago
    If you know anyone from China, it has everyone there on it. Otherwise, I don't know of any huge differences. Maybe more free stickers?
- jwong_ 9y ago
  How do you get this fabled native WeChat desktop application? As far as I can tell, it's an Electron app. It sucks up tons of resources on my computers.
  - tsukaisute 9y ago
    The version I have is from the Mac App Store
    - jwong_ 9y ago
      I'll start using it again. I might have been mixing up my memories of the web app.
      - tsukaisute 9y ago
        Yep, previously they had a web app only (not even Electron, just a website). The MAS version came after that. We use it heavily day-to-day.
ghthor 9y ago
There has to be a good desktop alternative or at least a good browser based alternative. Perhaps with WebRTC the best alternatives are now browser based, maybe discord or riot.im? It is sad though that basically the only desktop based chat/voice/video communications app listed at alternativeto.net[1] is LinPhone which in theory is a drop in replacement for skype, but in practice it is not =.= [1] http://alternativeto.net/software/skype/ http://alternativeto.net/software/skype/
AckSyn 9y ago
It's truly abysmal, isn't it? I remember skype when it first came out and it was absolutely amazing. After Microsoft acquired it they took down nodes and supernodes, and the quality took a steep dive. It's sad really. Every Microsoft purchase eventually turns to utter crap.
scrollaway 9y ago
I have high hopes for Discord video, which is coming out soon. Knowing the discord team and seeing the quality of the voice product, I'm finally going to be able to replace god-awful Google Hangouts.
- crb 9y ago
  What's god-awful about Hangouts, and does the new Hangouts Meet make things better? https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/meet-the-new-enterprise-focused-hangouts/ https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/meet-the-new-enterp...
  - scrollaway 9y ago
    Haven't used Meet, wouldn't know how as it's the first time I have heard of it. As for what's awful about it, where to start? Slow, hard to join, doesn't play well with multiple Google accounts, bugs and crashes with screen sharing, ...
  - dingdingdang 9y ago
    Why would anyone at this point go with Google's solutions for voice/video? Last time someone over at Arstechnica did a count they had 4 or 5 competing and largely incompatible solutions - they are NOT a serious player when it comes to producing, and perhaps more importantly - maintaining, a Skype replacement/alternative.
    - digi_owl 9y ago
      Almost as if Google internally use IM clients are proof of concept implementations...
  - owaislone 9y ago
    Hangouts is a good piece of tech and the has a great UX with minimal UI. The only issues with hangouts are that: 1. It is a resource hog. Laptops spit fire when they run hangouts for more than 10 minutes 2. It can be buggy and unreliable. Almost every 3rd hangout meeting, someone on my team is unable to hear others or is unable to use the mic. Fix can range anything between restarting the computer to killing audio processes. In my experience, it is much less reliable on OS X than Linux. If they manage to make it reliable and reduce resource usage, it'll be the perfect video conference app. Also, it doesn't currently work on firefox which is a pain.
teen 9y ago
discord is pretty good
- tnone 9y ago
  The inability to use a different ID for different servers pretty much precludes professional use. I don't want to use my handle at work, I don't want to use my real name in random internet communities.
JepZ 9y ago
The closest thing to Skype is Tox. But I hope for the return of XMPP. While the client development stagnated for the most part over the last years, there are a few which seem to catch up with the innovation of the last years (conversations, chat secure).
- digi_owl 9y ago
  The problem with XMPP seems to be that it is stuck in extension hell. There is simply too many XEPs bouncing around. The last great hope was back when both Facebook and Google used it, and you could connect one to the other. Since then both have gone proprietary, and dragged their user base with them.
  - kennydude 9y ago
    And Hangouts/Allo/whatever-it-is-this-week still doesn't work. Google Talk actually worked :(
Fezzik 9y ago
It really is astonishing. I remember using Skype around 2004/05 on a horribly crappy Dell laptop and it (Skype) worked flawlessly. It sort of boggles the mind how far in to the ground it has been driven.
- flashman 9y ago
  It's like an artist who doesn't know when to stop painting.
  - arkitaip 9y ago
    It's more like a mediocre artist buying a great painting made by a master and the decides to "improve" it by adding more and more paint.
    - thedailymail 9y ago
      The software monkey christ
- zoom6628 9y ago
  That would be when it was done by the Swedish founders, written in Pascal, by people who cared about users more than press releases.
- codedokode 9y ago
  I think Skype was the first app that would allow to talk for free across the globe even on poor (modem) connections.
  - jholman 9y ago
    Not even close. Just off the top of my head, Roger Wilco is 5 years older, and TeamSpeak is also older than Skype.
    - wyclif 9y ago
lucb1e 9y ago
Wire offers end to end encrypted and open source video calling (and audio calling, and chat, and file sharing). Even the server is open source, which is getting quite rare these days. Wire.com -- I'm not affiliated, just a big fan. They're very new and need more publicity in my opinion.
onetokeoverthe 9y ago
Does anyone know of of a calling site or calling software that works with mac 10.6.8? Even all the conference calling sites have abandoned support. I agree with the comment that backwards compatibility was and should be part of whatever utopian dream this internet world used to/could be.

by CSDude 9y ago

tsukaisute 9y ago

WeChat, while excellent on iOS, is also a lifesaver on the desktop given that they provide true native apps for Mac and Windows (no Electron!) Video/voice calls, file sharing, group chat, stickers, everything is there, but the performance alone makes this more usable over other chat apps today. It seems that over the years, their PM team is more confident (capable?) in keeping a good balance between core chat usability and all the "extras", perhaps because they are not playing catch-up in the market.

Larrikin 9y ago
Does WeChat offer any thing over LINE? I ended up uninstalling WeChat because it was using up 20% of my daily battery despite only opening up the app once every couple weeks.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- jwong_ 9y ago
  If you know anyone from China, it has everyone there on it. Otherwise, I don't know of any huge differences. Maybe more free stickers?
jwong_ 9y ago
How do you get this fabled native WeChat desktop application? As far as I can tell, it's an Electron app. It sucks up tons of resources on my computers.
- tsukaisute 9y ago
  The version I have is from the Mac App Store
  - jwong_ 9y ago
    I'll start using it again. I might have been mixing up my memories of the web app.
    - tsukaisute 9y ago
      Yep, previously they had a web app only (not even Electron, just a website). The MAS version came after that. We use it heavily day-to-day.

ghthor 9y ago

There has to be a good desktop alternative or at least a good browser based alternative. Perhaps with WebRTC the best alternatives are now browser based, maybe discord or riot.im? It is sad though that basically the only desktop based chat/voice/video communications app listed at alternativeto.net[1] is LinPhone which in theory is a drop in replacement for skype, but in practice it is not =.= [1] http://alternativeto.net/software/skype/ http://alternativeto.net/software/skype/

AckSyn 9y ago

It's truly abysmal, isn't it? I remember skype when it first came out and it was absolutely amazing. After Microsoft acquired it they took down nodes and supernodes, and the quality took a steep dive. It's sad really. Every Microsoft purchase eventually turns to utter crap.

scrollaway 9y ago

I have high hopes for Discord video, which is coming out soon. Knowing the discord team and seeing the quality of the voice product, I'm finally going to be able to replace god-awful Google Hangouts.

crb 9y ago
What's god-awful about Hangouts, and does the new Hangouts Meet make things better? https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/meet-the-new-enterprise-focused-hangouts/ https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/meet-the-new-enterp...
- scrollaway 9y ago
  Haven't used Meet, wouldn't know how as it's the first time I have heard of it. As for what's awful about it, where to start? Slow, hard to join, doesn't play well with multiple Google accounts, bugs and crashes with screen sharing, ...
- dingdingdang 9y ago
  Why would anyone at this point go with Google's solutions for voice/video? Last time someone over at Arstechnica did a count they had 4 or 5 competing and largely incompatible solutions - they are NOT a serious player when it comes to producing, and perhaps more importantly - maintaining, a Skype replacement/alternative.
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    Almost as if Google internally use IM clients are proof of concept implementations...
- owaislone 9y ago
  Hangouts is a good piece of tech and the has a great UX with minimal UI. The only issues with hangouts are that: 1. It is a resource hog. Laptops spit fire when they run hangouts for more than 10 minutes 2. It can be buggy and unreliable. Almost every 3rd hangout meeting, someone on my team is unable to hear others or is unable to use the mic. Fix can range anything between restarting the computer to killing audio processes. In my experience, it is much less reliable on OS X than Linux. If they manage to make it reliable and reduce resource usage, it'll be the perfect video conference app. Also, it doesn't currently work on firefox which is a pain.

teen 9y ago

discord is pretty good

tnone 9y ago
The inability to use a different ID for different servers pretty much precludes professional use. I don't want to use my handle at work, I don't want to use my real name in random internet communities.

JepZ 9y ago

The closest thing to Skype is Tox. But I hope for the return of XMPP. While the client development stagnated for the most part over the last years, there are a few which seem to catch up with the innovation of the last years (conversations, chat secure).

digi_owl 9y ago
The problem with XMPP seems to be that it is stuck in extension hell. There is simply too many XEPs bouncing around. The last great hope was back when both Facebook and Google used it, and you could connect one to the other. Since then both have gone proprietary, and dragged their user base with them.
- kennydude 9y ago
  And Hangouts/Allo/whatever-it-is-this-week still doesn't work. Google Talk actually worked :(

Fezzik 9y ago

It really is astonishing. I remember using Skype around 2004/05 on a horribly crappy Dell laptop and it (Skype) worked flawlessly. It sort of boggles the mind how far in to the ground it has been driven.

flashman 9y ago
It's like an artist who doesn't know when to stop painting.
- arkitaip 9y ago
  It's more like a mediocre artist buying a great painting made by a master and the decides to "improve" it by adding more and more paint.
  - thedailymail 9y ago
    The software monkey christ
zoom6628 9y ago
That would be when it was done by the Swedish founders, written in Pascal, by people who cared about users more than press releases.
codedokode 9y ago
I think Skype was the first app that would allow to talk for free across the globe even on poor (modem) connections.
- jholman 9y ago
  Not even close. Just off the top of my head, Roger Wilco is 5 years older, and TeamSpeak is also older than Skype.
  - wyclif 9y ago

lucb1e 9y ago

Wire offers end to end encrypted and open source video calling (and audio calling, and chat, and file sharing). Even the server is open source, which is getting quite rare these days. Wire.com -- I'm not affiliated, just a big fan. They're very new and need more publicity in my opinion.

onetokeoverthe 9y ago

Does anyone know of of a calling site or calling software that works with mac 10.6.8? Even all the conference calling sites have abandoned support. I agree with the comment that backwards compatibility was and should be part of whatever utopian dream this internet world used to/could be.