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Abandoning Skype

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First post, by Gemini000

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So I'd been using Skype for years now when I attempted to log in today and found an error message saying I've been logged out due to using an outdated version. >_>;

So I updated and started getting fed ads which would pop in and out, confusing me as to which chat windows had actual new messages coming in and which didn't, the ads themselves were lagging the system down (impressive given an 8-core 4 GHz CPU), plus some of my keystrokes were getting missed.

Given the fact most of my friends are on Steam now, given the fact that Steam has voice chat, given the fact that I rarely ever use video chat, and given the fact that file transfers can just be done with eMail, I've finally decided I've had enough of Skype's shenanigans since Microsoft bought it up and uninstalled the blasted thing. :P

I read up a little too following. Not only are the more recent versions more crashy and laggy compared to the older version I was using prior, but it turns out even PAYING customers will see ads sometimes in them. That's just ridiculous on about a million levels. x_x;

Microsoft is doing a terrible job of maintaining Skype and the experience has just been getting slowly and subtly worse every step of the way for people who just want to do simple voice chat. I think Microsoft probably knows it too, since all their money comes from their calling features and people who just use the chat features exclusively are either going to give in to the ads and buy better features for calling people, or are just going to be like me and ditch it for other software since we're not going to buy their premium stuff no matter what. :P

I'm fairly certain we're looking at the beginnings of a very slow and painful demise of Skype once competing products begin to offer similar services. Pidgin for example can already do almost anything Skype can, in fact, video support for Windows is already ready, but part of the upcoming 3.0 version so it's not in the current stable 2.x builds.

But yeah, I'm out of reasons to keep using Skype and the recent forced update gave me several more reasons to stop using it, so off it went. :P

...oh, you wanna know the greatest irony though? You know how a bunch of programs with login features will often send you to a webpage when you go to uninstall asking you why you wanted to uninstall and everything? Skype's uninstaller TRIES to do this, but just takes you to their main help website and not a specific page, as the specific page it's supposed to take you to likely doesn't exist anymore. Smooth. XD

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Reply 2 of 20, by Mau1wurf1977

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Hmm I have no issues to be honest. Merging messenger with Skype made it easier actually. Only one program to deal with 😀

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Reply 3 of 20, by VileR

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Skype is like a double whammy of concentrated awfulness, because (1) its IM features are a sad joke, which makes it a completely terrible replacement for MSN/Live Messenger to begin with; and (2) even when taken on its own, it's one of the most poorly programmed software products I've used in almost 3 decades of computing. Good riddance and kill it with fire.

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Reply 4 of 20, by Anonymous Coward

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I remember skype in 2004 being great. Everything about it since the microsoft purchase has been downhill. The interface used to be simple and intuitive, now it's just a mess like every other microshit product. I'm also pretty sure the video and audio quality were actually better in 2004 than they are now in 2014.

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Reply 6 of 20, by keropi

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leileilol wrote:

I stopped using MSN because it was turning into Skype. 😠

same here, msn was just great
I migrated to trilian now, has msn support, has a skin that makes it almost as msn, has file transfers and a buffer to paste stuff like images to the other person - I consider it the next best thing to msn - file/image stuff work fine even if the other person uses skype 😀

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Reply 7 of 20, by 133MHz

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I too remember Skype working great for audio/video calls, then getting increasingly bloated and ad-ridden. Nowadays in between the ads, the memory leaks & general sluggishness, features like screen sharing working when they feel like it I only launch the program when someone wants to have a video chat with me and I close it immediately afterwards. As an IM client it's abysmally primitive so I never merged my MSN account with Skype.

It always saddens me to see software I like become a bloated mess, forcefully discontinued, or trying to become like the competition while current alternatives are vastly inferior. Fortunately for most of these I can keep using an older version, but communication software can suffer from the servers denying connection to old clients (or being taken down entirely) and the infamous network effect. For example I still use MSN but I'm a dying breed, the thing is a ghost town. Since I refuse to give in on the whole social media BS but still want some IM to keep in contact with people I also use Google Talk, but that too has been discontinued. The best communication platform in the world is effectively useless if you're the only one using it.

Harekiet wrote:

MSN still seems to work fine with alternative clients, never really used skype for anything else than making cheaper calls.

I still use Windows Live Messenger on Windows 7 x64 with an (ancient) original Microsoft client, version 8.1.0178 (2007) to be exact. To get around the restrictions I patched the executable by replacing the version string with one that the servers will allow to log in (14.0.8117.0416) and enabled Windows XP compatibility mode, works flawlessly to this day. There's also Messenger Reviver to achieve the same effect with slightly newer versions.

The thing that keeps me using an ancient Microsoft client instead of alternatives is the handwriting feature. 😊
Not that it matters much when I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I talk to on MSN. People around here left in droves for Facebook, and I refuse to join the herd.

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Reply 8 of 20, by RacoonRider

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Anonymous Coward wrote:

I remember skype in 2004 being great. Everything about it since the microsoft purchase has been downhill. The interface used to be simple and intuitive, now it's just a mess like every other microshit product. I'm also pretty sure the video and audio quality were actually better in 2004 than they are now in 2014.

Exactly. Skype keeps afloat due to being once extraordinary popular. In our country people call all VoIP programs "Skype".

Reply 11 of 20, by Dominus

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Me too 😉

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Reply 12 of 20, by GeorgeMan

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MSN actually WORKS if you hexedit the .exe and make it think it is another -nonexistent- version :p

But all of your friends should do that to be able to use it together.

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Reply 17 of 20, by Gemini000

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Stull wrote:

Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> Uncheck "Allow Microsoft targeted ads..."

Tools -> Options -> Notifications -> Alters & messages -> Uncheck "Promotions"

Already had those off. Does nothing. :P

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Reply 18 of 20, by DracoNihil

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Have you tried hosts file redirecting the known skype ad servers to 127.0.0.1?

Another good reason to not use Skype anymore:
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~salman/skype/index.html

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Reply 19 of 20, by SpooferJahk

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If it wasn't for keeping in contact with my best friend since primary school and my older cousin, I would have abandoned Skype a couple of years ago. It seriously started to suck since I started using it in 2009, I remember calls actually being stable and the program itself not being a nuisance to my system. Now, calls have serious quality shifts and the program seems to suck a lot of bandwidth on my end, it could be my connection but still, Skype shouldn't make YouTube videos frequently go down to 144p when inactive.