Microsoft Dropping Modern Version Of Skype For Windows

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According to this blog post, Microsoft is ditching the "modern" version of Skype in favor of the desktop version.

With the upcoming release of Windows 10 for PCs, it makes sense to use the Skype application optimized for mouse and keyboards use, capable of doing touch as well rather than 2 separate applications performing the same function. You can get the desktop application today by downloading it here. Anyone trying to access the modern application on PCs starting from July 7 forward will be automatically directed to download the desktop application.
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Time to bring "modernUI" behind the barn and put it out of it's misery.

Just give me an optional simple dock ala OSX and everything will be peachy.
 
Quix said:
That's odd, they actually made it a viable option in Windows 10.
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Haven't seen any evidence of that. How has rebranding Windows 8.2 as Windows 10 suddenly made Metro apps viable?

It'd about time Microsoft refocused on the segment they still have which is business. Because consumers are lost.
 
Windows 10 makes those apps work on your desktop (just like any other app) so it's really more about the Metro aesthetic than working very differently.
At the same time they make those apps a pain in the ass to sort and file in the new start menu.
 
DPI said:
Haven't seen any evidence of that. How has rebranding Windows 8.2 as Windows 10 suddenly made Metro apps viable?

It'd about time Microsoft refocused on the segment they still have which is business. Because consumers are lost.
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Yeah, they run in windows that resize their content on demand. It actually seems promising, the framework has a lot of positives over Win32 like high DPI support, XAML definitions and lack of legacy cruft. Continuing to use Win32 isn't a realistic option because of it's lack of DPI support. The only thing we'll get if WinRT doesn't work out is another interfacing library.
 
Quix said:
Yeah, they run in windows that resize their content on demand. It actually seems promising, the framework has a lot of positives over Win32 like high DPI support, XAML definitions and lack of legacy cruft. Continuing to use Win32 isn't a realistic option because of it's lack of DPI support. The only thing we'll get if WinRT doesn't work out is another interfacing library.
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Forcing people to use the Windows Store to distribute them needs to get nixed quickly or they're not going to have a snowballs chance in hell, however.
 
They're just consolidating their applications. Instead of Skype for Desktop and Skype for Touch,they're knocking it down to Skype that changes its UI automatically to suit desktop AND touch.

Makes perfect sense... are we going to see an article about how the calculator has been consolidated into a single app, as well?
 
Quix said:
Forcing people to use the Windows Store to distribute them needs to get nixed quickly or they're not going to have a snowballs chance in hell, however.
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People have been screaming for a unified application update infrastructure / package manager. The store serves that purpose pretty well, honestly.
 
Unknown-One said:
They're just consolidating their applications. Instead of Skype for Desktop and Skype for Touch,they're knocking it down to Skype that changes its UI automatically to suit desktop AND touch.

Makes perfect sense... are we going to see an article about how the calculator has been consolidated into a single app, as well?
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Except consolidation isn't what happened here. The desktop app wasn't rewritten as a universal app. And they don't appear in any hurry to write a universal app for it, even though they claim to want this new API to take off.

It's like when they didn't bother to get a touch Office ready for Windows 8's launch. They can't be assed to lead by example and create their own key apps in the API they expect third parties to.
 
Unknown-One said:
People have been screaming for a unified application update infrastructure / package manager. The store serves that purpose pretty well, honestly.
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They have? News to me. Where are all these people?

In any case the windows Metro store or whatever they're calling it this week is still a train wreck.
 
The only thing I don't like about Win10 is when anything 'modern' appears on the screen. It just screams FAIL.
 
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Essentially what this means is we'll get a more tablet/phone friendly version on the desktop version. Even the last release has giant text bubbles which take up ~30-40% more of your screen for the same amount of text. And avatars you can't disable. Have not upgraded my Skype yet, and probably never will.
 
The Modern one becomes redundant when Windows 10 comes out, so killing it off isn't surprising.
 
I am still on Skype 6.21 because the interface is so much better than the new one with the goofy chat bubbles.
 
Does anyone use the modern UI version of Skype? it's totally, fundamentally and utterly broken.
 
Flogger23m said:
Essentially what this means is we'll get a more tablet/phone friendly version on the desktop version. Even the last release has giant text bubbles which take up ~30-40% more of your screen for the same amount of text. And avatars you can't disable. Have not upgraded my Skype yet, and probably never will.
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Actually, the phone-versions of Skype are already pretty phone-friendly to begin with.
 
Great, I was looking for another reason to uninstall it and move to a more reliable, less bloated and facebook-wannabe IM software that also has the capability of voice+video communication.

The day they force-update the 6.21 version will be the day.
 
DPI said:
Haven't seen any evidence of that. How has rebranding Windows 8.2 as Windows 10 suddenly made Metro apps viable?

It'd about time Microsoft refocused on the segment they still have which is business. Because consumers are lost.
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In Windows 8.x, ModernUI apps have the benefit of being natively HiDPI-aware. No matter what the resolution, they look right. I prefer the Win8.1 mail app over Outlook 2013 or anything else because it simply looks good on my 15" 2880x1620 laptop at work.

In Windows 10, they took the next logical step and made ModernUI apps window-able. No more dedicating an entire screen to an app, yay.

I don't know how consumers are "lost" except for the absolute, extreme anti-Win8isms just spewing infinite FUD which definitely would confuse people. Meanwhile we're deploying Win8.1 Pro at work, virtually en masse, and so far, zero users have come to us "lost."
 
Staying on 6.21 - sick of their "new and updated but less features and functionality versions". And even 6.21 was a pain to "upgrade" to. don't get me started on the shit they pull with applications nowadays... one example of MANY.. not being able to resize the damn contact list as small as i want is a FCKING absolute annoyance and such a ridiculous thing to enforce.

So now i guess we have to look forward to the dumbing down and removable of features and the soiling of a usable UI on the desktop version even more then hey?
 
SuperSubZero said:
In Windows 8.x, ModernUI apps have the benefit of being natively HiDPI-aware. No matter what the resolution, they look right. I prefer the Win8.1 mail app over Outlook 2013 or anything else because it simply looks good on my 15" 2880x1620 laptop at work.

In Windows 10, they took the next logical step and made ModernUI apps window-able. No more dedicating an entire screen to an app, yay.

I don't know how consumers are "lost" except for the absolute, extreme anti-Win8isms just spewing infinite FUD which definitely would confuse people. Meanwhile we're deploying Win8.1 Pro at work, virtually en masse, and so far, zero users have come to us "lost."
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I didn't mean consumers are confused. I mean the consumer segment is lost to Microsoft and their consumer focused offerings, specifically mobile, except for maybe Xbox which is overall still a money loser for the company.

As for deploying 8.1 at a company, congrats on being an edge case. Most corporations are continuing to avoid it like the plague because it offers nothing over 7 from a business or productivity standpoint.
 
Unknown-One said:
People have been screaming for a unified application update infrastructure / package manager. The store serves that purpose pretty well, honestly.
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You misread my post, I'm not against the Windows Store. I'm against being forced to use it as the only method of distribution. It needs to be optional like the play store is on Android. No one is going to accept a PC app distribution method that's more locked down than what they've got on their phones.
 
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