back to article Microsoft hands out tools to sneak Skype onto new PCs

Microsoft is eliminating the download experience from Skype for consumers by giving OEMs the tools to slip the VoIP client into PCs. The company has released a Skype OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) for Windows 7, which you can find here. The OPK is designed to give PC makers the tools they need to “silently install” Skype for …

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  1. Bob Vistakin
    Pint

    I'm so glad ms bought Skype

    Because as a long term user I naturally started looking for an alternative. I tried Google hangouts, and guess what? Even today, for > 2 people in a video conf you have to pay with Skype but with G+ ... well, as usual I don't even need to complete the sentence. G+ hangouts just got an Android update so you can *start* video conf calls from your handset. Its at the level of quality where, even if ms weren't involved with Skype, I'd switch anyway if had to compare both feature sets.

    1. Richard 81

      Re: I'm so glad ms bought Skype

      Your post is a bit garbled, so I'm afraid I didn't understand it fully.

      You like the google alternative then? What's it like?

    2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Thumb Down

      Re: I'm so glad ms bought Skype

      So am I.

      I can't wait for MickeySoft to start embedding bits of Skype in all the Windoze DLLs so that you can't uninstall it.

      Sound familiar?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Silently install.......

    Not on anything i buy you fucking dont....

    ESPECIALLY skype...

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Silently install.......

      Er, it's for OEMs. Or do you want Dell to employ hoards of Chinese children to click 'next'?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Silently install.......

        The only thing i want "preinstalled" is the OS and the latest drivers.

        Thats all...

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Silently install.......

          > The only thing i want "preinstalled" is the OS and the latest drivers.

          >

          > Thats all...

          That'll be Linux then :-)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Silently install.......

            Why do all the bloody linux fanbois have a penchant for posting anonymously.

            FFS, if your'e so proud of it then why hide....

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Silently install.......

        I'm well aware its a preinstall kit for OEM's, but as someone with fingers i am quite capable of clicking "Next, Next, Next" etc.

        I am also quite capable of clicking a button that says "Cancel" when asked if i want to install stuff.

        The point is im not been given the option!

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge
          Happy

          Re: Silently install.......

          Whatever you do don't get a Sony laptop then.

          1. Fatman
            WTF?

            Re: ...don't get a Sony laptop then.

            You mean: "Don't get ANYTHING SONY", don't you?

            I am still smarting from that rootkit they inflicted on unsuspecting CD buyers.

  3. Paul Shirley

    1:10 actual users?

    Here, I still have more than 4 Skype accounts (my wife also has a couple), still using none of them. It was just easier to create a new one than remember the old details. Abandoned before Microsoft gave me an excuse ;)

    Looks like 1:10 real to abandoned accounts is about right, given you need to log in to receive calls and plenty of those 40mil are Skype phones. The moment we got Google Talk working for video calls Skype was superfluous, even the landline phones & mobile can natively run SIP.

  4. Charles Manning

    Potential

    Agricultural land "has potential", but the rewards only happen if the farmer plants seed and tends the crop. If the farmer does nothing except drink beer or throw chairs around the land produces nothing.

    Same deal here: Skype *had* potential but MS did nothing to realise that potential.

  5. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Flame

    No to silent installs !

    I totally refuse and ban any product that has the cheek to try to slip into my system without my express approval.

    And if you bundle it with something else I think I need and I can't take it out, I will do without that thing it was bundled with.

    I hate piggybacks and underhanded deals, wherever and whatever they are. Do your business openly and honestly, or get out of my sight.

    1. CheesyTheClown
      Happy

      Re: No to silent installs !

      Do you also hate people who don't bother having a clue what they're talking about? The headline of the article like most Reg articles was intended to provoke you but was obviously misleading.

      What has been released is a tool that makes it possible for OEMs (companies like Dell, HP etc...) to install software on machines without needing a human to click next next next.... before it ships to the customer. So, if for example, you click "Install Skype on my new PC" on the Dell ordering page, it will be preinstalled when the machine arrives at your door.

      Hmm.... so, tell me... which part of this was either underhanded, closed or dishonest?

      You've got a gift my friend :)

    2. Thorne

      Re: No to silent installs !

      Your express approval? What crap! This is nothing but a tool for OEMs to install the software with the rest of the crud already preloaded. Skype will be preinstalled along with trial office 2010, trial Norton AV and trial Macfees.

      It's easier to wipe and reinstall OEM machines these days than uninstall the unwanted crap shoehorned in.

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        Re: "This is nothing but a tool for OEMs"

        Sure, and when I have to reimage my disk after Windows breaks down and I use the recovery discs included with the PC purchase, that "silent install" will have absolutely no impact on my new install, right ? Riiiight.

        I have the feeling that some of you haven't thought this thing through. That silent install is going to follow the life of that PC and the only way out of it is using an alternative OS.

        So I do believe that I understood the article perfectly well, and I am justified in refusing the consequences.

        1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

          Re: "This is nothing but a tool for OEMs"

          Only way out of it? Not really.

          Just get hold of a physical disc of the appropriate type, insert, reboot and format with prejudice everything on the system. The OEM key is locked to the BIOS, not the install media as long as the version is the same - ultimate, pro, etc.

          This way you can even get rid of the daft multiple partitions some OEMs still seem to think that we want or need (yes, it can be helpful to partition data but in reality all the data tends to get written to C: which gets full and nothing on the second drive).

  6. Franklin
    Thumb Down

    So when...

    ...can we expect an OEM preinstall kit for Firefox or Opera? Oh, wait...

    1. kain preacher

      Re: So when...

      HP did it with Netscape.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Megaphone

      Re: So when...

      More like...

      "When can we expect an Original Equipment Owner" pre-uninstall kit for all the crap they shovel on these machines?

      When will manufacturers learn that THEY DO NOT OWN THE COMPUTER THEY SELL US?!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        Re: So when...

        You haven't read the Microsoft License Agreement, have you?

      2. Chris 155
        FAIL

        Re: So when...

        Manufacturers will never learn this BECAUSE IT ISN'T TRUE.

        Who do you think owns your PC before you do? Do you think it's sitting in some sort of legal limbo just waiting for you to get your grubby mitts on it? Up until the moment that the contract is fulfilled and you have your PC in your hands, it belongs to the manufacturer, they can do whatever the heck they like to it including install whatever crapware they like.

        You can refuse to purchase from people who do this, you can argue that the item isn't fit for purpose and try to return it, if what they've installed is a root kit or the like you might even be able to sue them, but you'll never get them to learn they don't own your PC before you do because THEY DO.

      3. Nick Ryan Silver badge

        Re: So when...

        "Original Equipment Owner pre-uninstall kit"...

        that'll be PC Decrapifier then...

      4. Fatman
        Linux

        Re: ...Original Equipment Owner" pre-uninstall...

        I believe that is a Linux Live CD.

  7. brym

    Something about the truth setting people free...

    "We aim to make it as easy to access as possible"

    Legal Intercept.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/29/microsoft_skype/

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Name the files, paths, registry entries, and services

    Problem solved

  9. Tom 7

    When is someone going to sue them for calling it a VOIP client

    as far as I know it doesn’t accept VOIP calls, just Skype ones.

    1. dogged
      Headmaster

      Re: When is someone going to sue them for calling it a VOIP client

      Skype is definitely VOIP. It's just not SIP.

      You appear to have a nomenclature issue.

  10. Pirate Peter

    install skype and surrender your bandwidth

    i do not allow skype on any pc in my house as i do not wish skype to use my bandwidth or computing power for their profit

    if you have skype installed, sufficient bandwidth and a average or better pc it will use you as a super node to route other people calls so they do not need to invest so much in their own infrastructure

    and it has complex code to avoid blocking by firewalls, will use high ports, then port 80 (http) then port 443 (https) to establish connections and bypass firewall filtering / blocking

    you have been warned, remember their is no such thing as a free lunch

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. William Old
        Megaphone

        Re: install skype and surrender your bandwidth

        "Useful"?

        As useful as paying £5-£6 for a small bar of chocolate from the mini-bar fridge in the same hotels, you mean?

        MS bought Skype because they are natural partners... so now you can get crappy, unreliable, non-standards-compliant cruddy Skype software from a criminally-convicted, near-monopolist supplier of crappy, unreliable, non-standards-compliant cruddy operating systems.

        'Nuff said.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Linux

      Re: install skype and surrender your bandwidth

      I thought you had to leave it running (and not just installed) before it would start working as a supernode? And on Ubuntu at least it is pretty easy to make sure it ain't running...

      Which brings me to the next point, what other option does one have, apart from skype, that allows voice and video conf across win, mac, linux, iOS, android and global POTN (not just US/ EU and voice only obviously)...

  11. Semaj
    Thumb Down

    I hate Skype because it's the only IM client that Miranda can't really connect to properly. The best you can do is have it hidden in the background and use the interop plugin, which is a bit shonky (cause skype is so naff).

    I wish MS would somehow merge it with MSN so that the IM part just goes through that with the voice and cam still being Skype's protocols.

  12. Reue

    msiexec /quiet /i SkypeSetup.msi INSTALLDIR="c:\program files\Skype" ALLUSERS=1

    We've been installing Skype silently for years. Why is this news worthy??

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Skype, how are the mighty fallen.

    Once a major product. Now just another piece of crapware.

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