by Fogdude » Apr Mon 17, 2017 12:26 pm
For the last couple of weeks, several of my friends & relatives have been experiencing some serious issues with Skype. In one case, over a period of 3 days, while in a Skype session, one person was presented with a popup that announced that Skype was having issues & that it would be repaired immediately. Then, it shut down the session & restarted the computer. When the person logged back in, the Skype icon was gone from the taskbar. They called me on the phone & I walked them through getting into Skype & put the icon back on the taskbar. When connecting with them, I was presented with a black screen, not their avatar, as would usually be the case if their camera was off. I realized what was happening, because I gave them an external camera matching mine so our sessions would be more reliable. I walked them through checking the Video setting & Skype had completely forgotten about their external camera, which is mounted on the laptop lid, covering the built-in camera (hence the black screen, a sure sign) & was back to using the only camera it knew about, the built-in one. I had them unplug the external camera & plug it back in & Skype immediately resumed using the correct camera, but MY Skype locked up & became completely unresponsive, though the session continued with normal video & sound. I had them end the session & call me back & all was well. Apparently, Skype is no longer tolerant of camera or microphone changes while in a session. Two days later, the exact same thing happened again.
Today, checking for any new updates to Skype, I discovered they have started rolling out a new version. They tout it as the 'new & improved', of course, & claim it has been revamped for Windows 10 & eliminates issues with changing your camera or microphone during an active session. Oh, if only that was all they had done to it.
I downloaded & installed the new version on a laptop I rarely use for Skype, to see what it's like. As it turns out, it's so completely new & different, you can actually have parallel installations of the old & new versions. I'll go through some of the things I saw during my extremely brief look at it:
1. Old Skype lets you sign in & stay signed in until you Quit Skype. Not so with the new version. You must sign in every time you start it.
2. Old Skype didn't quit or close when you clicked the close X in the upper right corner. This merely minimized Skype. The new version has no 'Quit Skype' option. Why would it? Click the X in the upper right corner & Skype closes, period.
3. Skype now drills down through everything you have on your system to uncover potential contacts, including your phone book, email contacts & any other friends lists available. The Old Skype simply retained those Skype contacts you added yourself.
4. New Skype no longer presents your contact list on a side panel. To see your contacts, you must click a contacts button on the left, but this will not equate to the contact list you created under old Skype, though those contacts will be present. They will be grouped by their source & so far, though the 'favorite' tag is still present on each contact's profile, I don't see where it has any effect. That may require further investigation.
MSFT also lists a number of new benefits, like searchable messages. I didn't see anything compelling about any of their 'improvements' at all. It appears MSFT is still determined to make us all treat our computers as telephones or tablets & they're doing everything they can to move us away from the tradition desktop.
For now, this update is optional, but I doubt that will last for long.
So, be prepared... Winter Is Coming!