Skype shuts down London office, hangs up on hundreds of devs It's hardly surprising, really: having replaced the peer-to-peer Skype with a client-to-cloud version, Microsoft's now shuttering the London development office it inherited when it bought the VoIP application. First reported by the Financial Times, the decision to “unify some engineering positions” also affects Yammer …
That was an awefull lot of money to pay for what is now effectively just a name. Ok, and a userbase.
They've effectively gutted and replaced the main software they purchased, now they dump the devs. You'd think it would be cheaper and easier for a company the such size and with the resources it can command to just simply create their own stuff from scratch. It seems they can't do that though. Instead of competing, they have to buy up and destroy the competition. Maybe that's cheaper in the short term than licensing or working around the IP. It's just legalised bullying, except they fight to the death and stifle competition. MS will now hold all the P2P IP from Skype (which they now don't really need) so making it almost impossible for anyone other than another giant to enter that market.
"They created MSN Messenger from scratch and people quite liked it."
So much this! And I think it also goes to show that it almost seems as if one part of Microsoft has no clue at all what the other part is doing. Take MSN: that got shut down. That is: it was supposed to, then someone suddenly remembered that the XBox was fully build upon MSN / Messenger. Oops! As such the original shutdown got delayed.
Microsoft had Instant Messenger (IM) in the enterprise. This was re-badged to Lync. Then they bought Skype and re-badged Lync to Skype for business. Functionality barely changed. They bought the name because a lot of people sort of understood what Skype was and this made it easier to sell their enterprise instant messaging/screen sharing/audio/video collaboration tool to more businesses.
MSN Messenger original? What, like IE, MSDOS or Windows? I doubt it.
The original MSN Messenger was really trying to catch-up with AOL's AIM network which was already established. Microsoft made MSN Messenger compatible with AOL in order to get quick market share. AOL tried to block it with some success.
Thank goodness for Linux and open source projects.
What next Microsoft - BSOD as a service? (for a fee of course.)
Perhaps Word & Excel 1.0 for Mac (Windows got ver 2.0 I think). Visio, PowerPoint, MS SQL, DOS all bought in. MS Basic for CP/M etc based on porting Dartmouth BASIC, a cut down ForTran. NT3.1 was first version of Win10 and seems to have been on the back of MS 1989 OS/2 which started as a joint project with IBM, mostly IBM stuff? GUI on original NT, copied of Win 3.0 shell for DOS, inspired by Xerox, though they may have used bits of OS/2 Presentation Manager as Win2 and Win286 were horrible compared to DR Gem.
Perhaps embedded Win CE? Though it was a sort of cut down NT with a static limit to processes etc.
But you can make similar accusations against Apple, Google, Oracle etc?
Microsoft seem absolutely determined to destroy any sense of loyalty people may have for their products. Without warning, Skype stopped working on the Lumia phones which MS abandoned to Windows 8.1. If they think this will encourage users to upgrade to another Lumia phone, they don't realist that loyalty cuts both ways. They got some excellent hardware when they bought Nokia, and a very useful product when they bought Skype, but it seems to be in their nature to slash and burn their way to ultimate failure.
sense of loyalty has already been destroyed across the board (and I mean more than just MS), yours is the ghost, lurking in between.
Methinks that sense was killed some time after 2005-ish. Took amazingly little time to finish it off, I must say. Whatever's left is laziness and inertia (why migrate to something else, when it involves precious 12 clicks, while this (...) still kind-of works...)
"That was an awefull lot of money to pay" ... [to make] ... "it almost impossible for anyone other than another giant to enter that market."
I think you've just explained why they spent the money. Completely rational, if somewhat disconcerting to those of us who might think they should treasure the assets and people they buy.
That's what they bought.
" It seems they can't do that though. Instead of competing, they have to buy up and destroy the competition. "
The legacy of Bad Boy Billy.
It was never enough that he won. The other fellow had to lose. And by "lose" I mean be thoroughly stomped into the ground so there was nothing left.
I deleted Skype a couple of weeks ago. All of a sudden I started getting 20+ messages today for "friend " requests from men, not one a woman and despite blocking the same names were reappearing. I got totally fed up with it and deleted app. I had looked on a Users site, other people are having the same problem but Microsoft doing nothing. This caused consternation in a few of my friends as don't use Messenger or Whatsapp and too set in their ways to wrap their heads round a new app. If it's fixed I will reinstall but not before.
If I need to have:
- text and voice chat
- screen cast in a chat
- ability to call landlines/cells
- native client (browser access NOT OK) for linux and android
and would not mind having:
- group chat and group calls
- having a number callable from landlines/cells
- video calling
- native client for win32 (so that it runs on win7 and up)
What would be my alternatives to skype?
Add to that,
- Multi-platform to include iOS and MacOS (yes there are users out there)
It seems that microsoft is up to its old tricks. Recent Skype releases have seen valued functionality removed which I know is pissing off the user base in my contacts list.
If the non 'Skype for Business' customer base jump ship then frankly, I don't think that would MS care at all. Getting an even tighter stranglehold on business users seem to be their 'Plan A'.
I would not find it strange for Skype for Windows to soon be bundled up in Office 365. No free and available for all versions at all. It does not fit in their need to monetise everything. I would not be surprised that 'Free' was redacted from all Dictionaries in Redmond.
There is certainly room for an alternative. One wonders if the people in the UK might pick up their toys and start an alternative.
It already is bundled into Office 365. I just recently started subscribing to Office 365 because I had just had enough of Libreoffice not working well.
Tried Skype for Business but you can't transfer/import any of your contacts from your personal Skype so it seems a bit pointless unless you want to use it on an internal corporate network or to build your business contact list from scratch. Didn't try using it again.
I held out against Skype for a long long time but finally gave way this new year because my business contacts were on it and they were no longer using any other chat program (Yahoo was going downwards for years). I don't like Skype as an experience at all but it helps me get work done. I can live with it...
Just change the default settings. Works better on Windows and Linux for me than MS Office. I use now the "native" file formats and only "save as" in an MS Format to send to MS Office users or publishers.
I've had LESS bugs with format of manuscripts for publishers.
But, but, but... Everyone here says LibreOffice is a very suitable alternative for OfficeOffice, is it not true?
I was worried that the £70 I paid for Office Home, which I get to share amongst my other half and two offspring, with a spare, might have been wasted.
Given the complexity of some of the PowerPoint stuff one of them produces and the current and upcoming needs of University, I suspect it was well worth it.
It also comes with 60 minutes of Skype, per month, which includes calling cell phones in other countries, which is somewhat expensive otherwise and useful occasionally.
Of course, the 1TB of OneDrive, unfillable as it is given the upload speeds, is also useful.
Finally, Skype. The Skype Preview shipped with W10AU, which crashed too often until it got fixed a week later, is pretty good, in that it doesn't 'forget' to update messages, lacks only the 'send location' feature from the previous version (possibly other things I don't know about of course).
The same app runs on Windows Phone 10 of course, useful to those of us who have a WP10 device and it means Skype's loading delays etc. are gone.
They call it a preview (rather than a beta for some reason) because they are adding to it they say. First up is putting SMS messaging into the app, which takes us back to WP10 as was, but with Skype carrying the messaging burden instead of Messaging.
"But, but, but... Everyone here says LibreOffice is a very suitable alternative for OfficeOffice, is it not true?"
If LibreOffice turns out not to be enough then are other very competent office suites around such as FreeOffice and Kingsoft Office 2013 (price = zero for both). If I had to buy an office suite then I'd buy Softmaker Office which still comes in cheaper than anything that Microsoft can offer.
As for Skype alternatives, I'd suggest looking at Google Hangouts, Firefox Hello, Jitsi or Tox.
> Given the complexity of some of the PowerPoint stuff one of them produces and the current and upcoming needs of University
Are you saying that you still use dedicated presentation software like PowerPoint or Impress? How quaint, is that a nod to the 90s? :-)
Do yourself a favour (especially if you're in any vaguely IT-related field) and go all JavaScript for your presentation-based needs. I personally use reveal.js, but there there are tons to choose from.
I tried Tencent's QQ, it wasn't bad on Windows and Android, but seems to be Chinese only on Linux. I figured how to turn off the adverts (unlike Skype, it's a simple user setting!). It also used much less resource and offers groups and Webcast mode.
I'd still be using it if I could figure how to set up English Linux version. I had to go back to Skype for Text & File transfer (with very occasional voice and extremely occasional video). QQ features and GUI on Windows is far better.
However I've abandoned Windows unless they bring out a Classic version with best aspects of NT3.5, NT4.0 and XP. Now Linux Mint + Mate Desktop + WINE + Redmond theme. More like NT Windows 1996-2003 than Windows 8 or Windows 10. Works well on Acer Netbook with 32G CF card instead of original flash as well as the 8G RAM tower workstation.
Actually, as a user the only things I care about are the features I need, and the efficiency with which these features are implemented. If an application does not provide the features I consider essential, I won't use it regardless of how ideologically pure the application is.
As a developer, I agree that the most technically sensible way of implementing the features user needs is to follow the established standards where such standards exist. I also agree that avoiding platform dependencies and relying on open protocols is often the best way of making the application maintainable of supportable in the long run.
However, none of if it matters unless an application does what its users want, in a way users find intuitive and comfortable. Thinking otherwise takes us down the Metro way, and this road does not lead to the Temple.
"Actually, as a user the only things I care about are the features I need, and the efficiency with which these features are implemented."
One very desirable feature is that features can't be taken away at the whim of a vendor. And a vendor who owns the application, server, protocol and anything else they can think of can't be relied on for that.
"What we really need is:
- Cross Platform
- Open Protocols
- Standards Based"
Check out Matrix.org in combination with Vector.im clients.
Works great, it is open source and works in a distributed way so you can run your own server (if you want) and still communicate with everyone.
and gives you all the things you want.
Well, the most important thing would be the same access to your current contacts. It doesn't need to be compatible with Skype, as long as when you install it, it also installs itself on the computers of your contacts.......(!)
And that;s the issue... Critical Mass.
As I don't have any friends, I don't currently use any instant-messengering services, but when I did, you simply had to use what everyone else used. And they won't change because they too need to use something all their contacts use, and so on.
Ultimately, most users don't give a crap about p2p, encryption, or open source. As long as that is where all their friends are, and they have access to loads of emoticons, that's where they'' stay.
You mean like industry standard sip phones?
Software like Linphone, Bria\x-lite, and dozens of others. Also hardware phones. (It is built into some android and symbian phones)
Cross platform; Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, BB OS (6, playbook and 10), iOS (though Apple make it difficult by blocking background UDP), symbian (audio only) and I have even used a client on RISC OS once.
useful service providers:
getonsip.com - provides a (non IE) web interface, and a url that people can use to call in without an account.
draytel.org - PAYG service, that gives you a real land line number with your first £12 credit.
linphone - they provide accounts that work with their software, and allow calls to be received in the background on iOS. (A couple of advanced features need to be turned off to ensure compatibility with all providers and software/phones).
Actually you did make a mistake....it's "lose" not "loose"
The OP could still be correct, in that not having tried Skype, he may not have had a stream of heartfelt invective to let loose. Or he might have voided his bowels mere minutes ago, and thus has nothing further to loose off. All manner of possibilities.....
I only use it because people I need to speak to use it. Otherwise having all the old chat and alerts I've already seen/read being regurgitated on every device is a royal pain. The sound quality is rubbish and people keep making Youtube videos out of it. If someone is going to address a remote audience and give a talk I wish they would just do a direct webcast and use a decent amount of bandwidth (latency doesn't matter so much if only one person is talking).
In a nutshell: Skype is rubbish and used too much for the wrong things and the only way to improve the situation is to just take it away.
Well "Skype for Business" what used to be called Lync is almost ubiquitous and does actually work.
Their basic app screen shows the active status of all contacts, meaning work from homers have to move their mouse at least once every 5 minutes or so.
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"The sound quality is rubbish "
Compared to what exactly?
I prefer Skype for that reason alone: Skype calls offer better sound quality than my mobile phone. And I can switch on video as well.
The quality suffers without a headset (or use skype on the mobile as a handset), but still better than a mobile phone and plain GSM.
I do not use the phone out on the road much, so I am usually in places where the available bandwidth is much better than anything GSM has to offer.
I am, however, open to alternatives. I have Viber installed on two devices (but not on my work laptop). I'd gladly accept Apple's offering (facetime or something?) too, but their solution is locked to Apple's platforms (last time I checked).
I've always said a cheap laptop/tablet/phone plus a dumb TV and a long HDMI cable is better value than a "Smart TV". No TV maker will produce new codecs and apps. No matter who owned Skype or what apps are installed, apps on a TV other than simplest USB stick media browser are doomed. Even with the USB stick / HDD, eventually you'll have AV formats not supported by TV, but at least you'd be able to re-encode for it on a PC etc.
We see this so often; a company changes direction, either as a consequence of a take-over or on its own decision, lays off staff or relocates* an office. By now people should be building an escape route into their everyday thinking and being ready to set up their own business when the inevitable arrives. All those ideas that management turned down - could they have a life of their own? Could this team reconstitute itself outside?
*This has much the same effect if staff are unable to follow for family reasons etc.
"If you think that any cubicle-dweller has a realistic chance of simply becoming a successful independent contractor overnight maybe you should try tackling world peace first."
A. Where do you think all the successful independent contractors came from? Not that this is what I was suggesting.
B. I've seen one branch of a business by a combination of layoffs and relocation gradually drop a huge number of staff who would have had the necessary set of skills to set up a successful business in the same industry except that they were shed over a period. Why do I think this? Because they'd already done that for their employer.
And they managed to be completely unselfconcious about writing an article that basically said "we've read a story in another newspaper that says ....." ... though, I suppose it makes a change from their usual style of running an articel on something that was covered on the Today program the day before.
Perhaps the now ex skype people can rebuild the skype that used to work before Microsoft f*****d it up.
Get rid of the bloody annoying prompts to upgrade which prevent you using
Stop hiding useful functionality
Get back to calls that work
Scrap the rather poor skype for business, just let business have their own directories and encryption keys
Frankly for those who think ARM is going to stay in the UK for more than a week then look at skype and all the other businesses swallowed and shut by foreign companies (including 3 of those I worked for).
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