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I might have a complete misunderstanding of the situation, but I see three main explanations: 1) Microsoft has absolutely no interest in Skype being a viable o

by m1el 9y ago

I might have a complete misunderstanding of the situation, but I see three main explanations: 1) Microsoft has absolutely no interest in Skype being a viable option, and wants Skype users to adopt some other Microsoft product. Why doesn't Microsoft tell Skype users "Well, Skype is done, just use MSN." 2) People responsible for Skype are optimizing for some metrics, which is opposite to user satisfaction. What is that metric? 3) People responsible for Skype have no idea what they're doing, get no input from community, don't see how people are mad about these particular UI changes, and misunderstand how people use Skype... In which case, why are they still in charge?

ClassyJacket 9y ago
"Why doesn't Microsoft tell Skype users "Well, Skype is done, just use MSN." I'm not aware of anything else they have now that could be supposed to replace it? They already did this the other way around. They closed MSN Messenger in 2013, and told everyone to just use Skype. Skype WAS supposed to the their main messaging app now.
- candiodari 9y ago
  You forget that they replaced Skype with an MSN service while doing this. So in reality you might as well say they "reskinned" Office messenger, called Lync (which I believe started as a version of MSN messenger long ago) and then put out an "update" for Skype that replaced it with Lync, with the banners, window titles, website names, etc, replaced with "skype". That's what happened.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- mathw 9y ago
  Skype certainly is meant to be their main messaging app now. It's their only messaging app now. The trouble is, they also don't ever seem to have done anything to make it better, and the ongoing saga of native Windows 8 and now Windows 10 Skype clients is face-palmingly awful. Flagship chat system on flagship platform doesn't even work right... what hope for Android and iOS?
virtualized 9y ago
2) and 3) The metric is internal company bullshit. The opinion of one "manager" has more weight than opinions of millions of customers. A dysfunctional organization such as Microsoft does not have a way to limit the damages caused by obsolete aspects of human nature such as unconditional loyalty to the leader of the local group.
kenrob82 9y ago
Good reasoning! As pointed out eg in https://twitter.com/reactnative/status/832648387220484097 https://twitter.com/reactnative/status/832648387220484097 the new Android/iOS Skype is not a native app but react-native. That means it’s not really an update but a complete rewrite. The metric they optimize for is cost, they want to use the same JS code on all platforms. Of course explanation 3 is valid too.
deleted 9y ago
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by m1el 9y ago

ClassyJacket 9y ago

"Why doesn't Microsoft tell Skype users "Well, Skype is done, just use MSN." I'm not aware of anything else they have now that could be supposed to replace it? They already did this the other way around. They closed MSN Messenger in 2013, and told everyone to just use Skype. Skype WAS supposed to the their main messaging app now.

candiodari 9y ago
You forget that they replaced Skype with an MSN service while doing this. So in reality you might as well say they "reskinned" Office messenger, called Lync (which I believe started as a version of MSN messenger long ago) and then put out an "update" for Skype that replaced it with Lync, with the banners, window titles, website names, etc, replaced with "skype". That's what happened.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
mathw 9y ago
Skype certainly is meant to be their main messaging app now. It's their only messaging app now. The trouble is, they also don't ever seem to have done anything to make it better, and the ongoing saga of native Windows 8 and now Windows 10 Skype clients is face-palmingly awful. Flagship chat system on flagship platform doesn't even work right... what hope for Android and iOS?

virtualized 9y ago

2) and 3) The metric is internal company bullshit. The opinion of one "manager" has more weight than opinions of millions of customers. A dysfunctional organization such as Microsoft does not have a way to limit the damages caused by obsolete aspects of human nature such as unconditional loyalty to the leader of the local group.

kenrob82 9y ago

Good reasoning! As pointed out eg in https://twitter.com/reactnative/status/832648387220484097 https://twitter.com/reactnative/status/832648387220484097 the new Android/iOS Skype is not a native app but react-native. That means it’s not really an update but a complete rewrite. The metric they optimize for is cost, they want to use the same JS code on all platforms. Of course explanation 3 is valid too.

deleted 9y ago

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