Microsoft is going to drastically improve Skype
Over the past few years, only the lazy Skype user has not complained about the VoIP messenger. And it consumes a lot of resources and does not work too fast, plus the program interface was not very convenient, and sometimes even strange (just the places that were copied from Snapchat). Often, users accuse Microsoft of not being able to make work with their own messenger comfortable.
For a long time, the company experimented with the interface and the functionality of Skype, without listening to anyone, but it seems that the pleas of the users still reached the goal. In July, the corporation announced that it was going to add several useful features to Skype, including a built-in voice recorder, end-to-end encryption and support for NDI API. Now the company is engaged in the optimization of the interface of Skype, in any case, this was stated by its representatives .
In particular, a redesign of the application without an analogue of "Stories" is presented. In the new versions of the design there will be no strange features, like Highlights and Capture, no buttons for them.
True, Microsoft still continues to pursue a policy of abandoning versions of Skype for different platforms, while developing a unified instant messenger. The new client, called Skype for Life, is based on web technologies, including JavaScript and the React framework. The corporation said that due to unification, it will be able to add such long-awaited features as encrypting messages in user chats for all platforms at once without having to change each client.
However, not all users of traditional Skype were satisfied with these plans. Despite the fact that Skype for Life is the only option for a user to get new features mentioned above, many still prefer the traditional version of Skype.
Seeing the rejection of the results of the work on the new version of the messenger, the corporation decided to abandon the Snapchat-like statuses that few people liked, and return the application interface to its previous form - that is, to what Skype looked like before the global updates of the messenger. There is no need to speak of a full return to the sources, but there are some positive changes in this regard.
Thus, the buttons for calling the list of contacts, call and messages are omitted in the lower part of the display, which allows you to get quick access to these two functions. In particular, this is exactly what they did with the mobile version. Now the company promises
The “true Skype” itself will nevertheless continue to be considered obsolete by the company’s representatives, and in the end, they will get rid of it. However, there is a far non-zero probability that the updated version will be made in many ways similar to the forerunner.
Work on new features also continues. For example, end-to-end message encryption has been transferred to the beta version for a stable messenger version, and today the company announced the addition of a call recording function .
That's what Skype looked like in 2014.
In principle, the news is good, although it’s not quite clear why the company didn’t listen to users for so long and continued to bend its line, despite all the louder criticism. It should be noted that on the way to development the messenger underwent various evolutionary changes, and not always successful ones. They had to refuse and introduce something new, and sometimes it turned out something good.
Now it would be good for Microsoft to speed up work on the introduction of new old features, as well as on improving the retro-style Skype for Life interface. If you do this quickly, then you can already experiment with the unification of the application. True, I would like Skype to remain Skype, and was not similar to any other applications.