Skype finally catches Google with group video chat

Skype will finally provide group video chat for mobile phones, nearly three years after Google offered it with Hangouts. The VoIP pioneer that was bought by Microsoft for $8.5bn back in 2011 has been decidedly slow in getting the service to market, but that didn't prevent it from comparing itself to NASA. "Ten years ago, NASA …

[aidanstevens]

More bloat

My current Skype for Android installation is over 140MB, that's just app data, no cache. I don't think I can tolerate it getting much bigger.

[Anonymous Coward]

Google's problem

Was that hangouts was part of google+ and no one gave a proverbial about google+.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Google's problem

If you are a braindead idiot, it was easy to think this. However the reality was, to use hangouts you needed a Google account, that was all. And for that, you had free, upto to way video chat supporting vp8 video .

Now you could, if you wanted, host your hangouts on Google+. And this is where simpletons got confused.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll Skype you ..

"Skype .. doesn't find time to reflect on the reconfiguration of its entire network undertaken by Microsoft"

Give them a break, routing all the VoIP traffic through north America is a massive technical undertaking.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/newly-published-nsa-documents-show-agency-could-grab-all-skype-traffic/

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I'll Skype you ..

Give them a break, routing all the VoIP traffic through north America is a massive technical undertaking.

They don't have to. When I tracked back pure European intercepts (both parties residing in Europe) I ended up with IP addresses in Microsoft Azure in Amsterdam and Ireland. I haven't found time to work out what determines Ireland or Holland, but if that data is leaving Europe it's through Microsoft in Europe, not directly.

[John Crisp]

Agree that one thing I am jealous of is the quality of Facetime calls between my wife and various of her friends, and wish it was available cross platform.

But that in its own right is insufficient to make me want to shell out for a bowl of fruit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Agree that one thing I am jealous of is the quality of Facetime calls between my wife and various of her friends, and wish it was available cross platform.

OK, but Skype's interface, bad as it is after suffering from Microsoft *cough* improvements *cough* is better IMHO - Facetime really doesn't like low bandwidth conditions or instances of double NAT whereas Skype tends to ignore them and work anyway. Skype's built-in messaging is IMHO also easier for users than the separate iMessage application on fruity devices.

Just my opinion - I use both frequently.

[Anonymous Coward]

Skype still not caught Google with group video chat

It hasn't said when exactly and is instead asking customers to "pre-register" by providing their email, Skype names, country and device.

So the news is actually that Skype still doesn't have group video, but is promising it Real Soon Now™?

[Fred Flintstone]

Re: Skype still not caught Google with group video chat

So the news is actually that Skype still doesn't have group video, but is promising it Real Soon Now™?

Can't imagine a clearer sign that it was bought by Microsoft..

:)

[John Brown (no body)]

first to offer one-to-one video calling on mobile

Ummm...what? DO they think they are Apple now?

Video calls were available before there were smartphones, ie back when we all had what are now called "feature phones".

[Efros]

Now all they have to do

is fix their bog awful windows client.

[Aitor 1]

Crap app

worse still, on my phone it insists on using the noise cancellation mic instead of the regular one.

The only app that does that.