Skype’s Beta: Love it or Hate it
Source: www.voip-news.com
There’s buzz all over about Skype’s 4.0 beta release. Some love it. Some hate it.
The changes? A new interface. A viewscreen that defaults to large when doing video calling. A real-time advice service, Skype Prime.
According to CNET:
The spread-out interface of Skype 4.0 beta for Windows will definitely take some getting used to, especially as it abandons the client’s traditionally nimble, IM-styled build. However, it does succeed in calling out a wider array of communication services. This may give the Luxembourg-headquartered company a chance to deemphasize VoIP as its core competency and mark out new territory in Internet video, collaboration tools, and entertainment services.
According to eWeek:
Short of being face-to-face with your best friend whose summering in Paris, Skype 4.0 lets you conduct video chats with he or she from U.S. to Europe right from your computer to her laptop by making a single click on the Video call button. Users can choose to have an IM conversation alongside the video call, also with one click, from one window.
New unified conversations capabilities pull instant messaging, voice, video, file transfers, SMS and calls together, allowing users to easily move in and out of conversations between single users or groups.
According to ZDNET of the UK:
If you eliminate the sites which are simply parroting the Skype press release, the reaction is overwhelmingly negative. As usual, it appears that the Skype “engineers” have been operating in complete isolation, ignorant of anything and everything else which might resemble good human interface design. After seeing what Skype did to their User Forums when the converted to the “Skype Community”, and now seeing what they have done to the program with this new release, I’ve had to change my opinion of what is lacking there. I used to think they needed some good engineering management, but now it looks like even getting some adult supervision would be a big improvement.
