Disruptive Telephony

What did Skype do right in Skype 5.x for Windows that they need to bring across over into Skype 5.x for Mac OS X?

That's essentially the question that Jim Courtney has taken on in two new posts building off his initial post I wrote about last week. He continues the series with:

• Skype for Mac 5: Returning to Ecstasy – Step 1 – Consistency
• Skype for Mac 5: Returning to Ecstasy – Step 2 – The Conversation Pane

No longer having any Windows machines in my life, I hadn't ever seen the Skype 5.x client for Windows so it was useful to see Jim's comparison. The "Compact View" he describes in Step 1 would go very far to addressing my greatest issue with Skype 5.x for Mac, namely the ability to have multiple chats open in separate Windows.

I applaud Jim for writing this series of articles and I do hope Skype is listening...

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

I did have to glance out my window a few moments ago and check that there were no pigs flying across the sky... I also checked my calendar to make sure it wasn't April Fools... why?

Skype released an update for Linux!

As much as I may occasionally whine about how Skype doesn't give the Mac OS X client enough attention (or when they do, they don't get it right), I've got nothing to complain about compared to the folks living in Linux-land. If the Mac client gets "little" attention, the Linux client has appeared to receive almost "no" attention.

So it's good news that a "Skype 2.2 Beta for Linux" is now out. From the blog post it appears that the Linux client now has:

• Skype Access (ability to connect to WiFi hotspots using Skype credit)
• Support for call waiting and holding
• Improved audio/video quality in calls
• Support for easy conference call creation (also in the Windows and Mac 5.x clients)
• A whack of "improvements" to the user interface and functionality that sound individually like minor tweaks but together undoubtedly make it a more solid experience
• Over 50 various bugs (big enough to be mentioned)
• Updated support for about 20 languages

All in all it sounds like good bit of content and it's great to see Skype giving the Linux community some love with an update. If you run Skype on Linux, you may want to head over and check it out.

P.S. Of course, looking at the comments to the post, I can see that some in the Linux community are naturally looking for more... particularly a native-64-bit build. Hopefully with Skype's new emphasis on trying to get out more regular releases we'll see more Linux releases (versus the "1-beta-release-a-year" schedule they have seemed to be on).

Image credit: Antarctica Bound on Flickr

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

I had planned to write a longer blog post today summarizing so much of the recent discussion happening online about the "Skype for Mac 5" client, particularly after the recent release of "Skype for Mac 5.1". I was planning to link to the various posts, provide context, etc., etc.

However, in one of those moments of synchronicity that happen from time to time, I woke up this morning to find that Jim Courtney published a post very much along the lines of what I was going to write:

Skype for Mac 5 – From Ecstasy to Agony

Sooooo.... read his post! :-)

Seriously, though, do read Jim's post because he's done a great job bringing together the various posts in the last couple of weeks related to the Skype for Mac 5.x issues.

For my part, I use BOTH Skype 2.8 and Skype 5.1 on a daily basis... just on two different Macs. I switch back and forth between them, although Skype 2.8 running on my Voxeo laptop continues to be my primary user interface for Skype. I just run 5.1 on an iMac in my home office so that I can try to get used to it.

My biggest issues with Skype 5.x on the Mac continue to be:

1. LACK OF MULTIPLE WINDOWS - Right now on my 2.8 client, I show about 100 chats being open in two different main windows, each with a drawer showing those chats... and then a third window showing my contacts. It's an extremely efficient way to work... and I have found it personally incredibly difficult to move to the "one window" paradigm of Skype 5.x.

   I frequently find myself working simultaneously in two different chats... or I will be on a call with someone and simultaneously talking about what is happening in another chat right then. I need the ability to have multiple chat windows open simultaneously before I can seriously move to using Skype 5.x.

2. CHAT SORTING - As Jaanus Kase relates, the sorting of chats in Skype 5.x is markedly different than in Skype 2.8. I mentioned this back in November in my post, "3 Interesting Omissions From the Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac OS X". We used to have the ability to sort like this:

   

   Now in 5.x, as Jaanus notes, we have the time-sorted chats and the alpha-sorted "Favorites". It's really a huge step backwards from the flexibility we have in 2.8.

   I like manual sorting... I loved being able to prioritize chats. Particularly when I have multiple windows open, each with a separate list of chats. In one of my windows, I have the chats manually sorted so that I can just look over and see which chats have new messages. In my other window, they are sorted by date so that the most recent chats always show up on the top. It all works very well.

3. BIZARRE DIALPAD - Again, like Jaanus, I often use Skype to call into traditional conference call systems and getting to the dialpad in Skype 5.x is just, well, strange. You have to click the button on the top... but then you can't control the call from that window... you have to hang up the call back in the main window... and the dialpad sometimes goes away.

   It seems a very strange departure from the "one window" paradigm Skype is promoting for 5.x overall... and it's just bizarre.

I also have issues with the window size... but that gets at least better if you use one of the various minimalist "chat styles" that are out there. There are a number of other minor UI details that bug me from time to time... but it's mostly again this multiple window issue. If I had the ability to "undock" chats and put them into separate windows, Skype 5.x would be a whole lot more useful to me. I might even consider switching full-time. But not right now. My efficiency with Skype would be too severely impacted.

Skype has a 5.2 for the Mac apparently in the works... someone pointed out that some documents indicated it would bring ads to the Mac version (Oh, joy!). We'll have to see what else it brings...

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

Yesterday Skype had another outage. This one apparently was only minor and affected people logging in to Skype or using inbound phone numbers (what we used to call "SkypeIn" numbers). It didn't affect me at all - Skype worked fine for me.

Skype's recovered from the outage... but what I find a bit annoying is that there seems to be no real information about what happened.

There is a brief post on the Skype Heartbeat site which says only that things are "returning to normal" but that there might still be problems with:

• Signing in to Skype, Skype manager, the developer site, and the forums
• Buying Skype Credit or subscriptions
• Making calls to landlines and mobiles

But that's it... no word that they've fully recovered and no information about what the issue was.

Tales From Twitter

The best guess is what we can glean from their Twitter stream:

So apparently per this tweet the outage was caused "by an ISP failure".

On The Need For Transparency

Here we are a day later and there is complete silence from Skype's online sites. Nothing more on Twitter. Nothing on the blogs that I could see. I poked around a bit in the Skype community forums but nothing jumped out at me.

C'mon Skype!

If you learned one thing from the last outage back in December I would have hoped it was that we all want to hear from you and more importantly want to hear details about what is happening with the service we are using.

Communication and transparency reassure us... and create loyal and happy customers.

What caused the outage? If it was with "an ISP", why did it take out the login services? Why were SkypeIn numbers affected? Was it a single point-of-failure?

More importantly, what are you doing so that this doesn't happen again? Are you looking at redundant connections? Or distributing functionality?

Help us, Skype... help us understand that you want our business/usage and that we should be reassured that you are making sure these outages don't happen again.

You are a communication company - PLEASE COMMUNICATE!

Thanks!

P.S. While I didn't experience any problems with Skype yesterday, Andy Abramson did and wrote about his issues.

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

Want the scoop on Qik Video Connect for the iPhone and iPad? Shortly after it was released last week Jim Courtney (of VoiceOnTheWeb) and I made our usual calls to each other to try out new apps. Unfortunately, I was slammed with a brutal cold/flu sickness last week and haven't had the cycles to write up my own thoughts on the new app... nor do I see myself doing so anytime soon. Sooo... let me point you over to Jim's views on the subject:

Qik Video Connect: New Video Directions from Skype

I'll add to Jim's commentary that I did also use the free Qik Video Connect app on my iPad2. The app is not designed for the iPad - it's just the iPhone app running on the iPad2 - but it did work perfectly fine to make and receive video calls. In the multiple calls to Jim I spoke with him from both my iPhone and iPad2.

I did not test out the live streaming due to the fact that I was quite sick and did not honestly want people to see me on video! :-) I'm looking forward to trying live streaming, though, at the next event I attend.

At some point I will write up some more of my thoughts, but for now, head on over and read Jim's...

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

For those Mac users brave enough to step into the world of Skype 5.0 (or who inadvertently accepted the upgrade box that popped up), Skype has come out with Skype 5.1 for Mac OS X today. As Beom Soo Park notes on the Skype Garage blog, this release contains:

• Focus on active speakers in group calls
• Dial recently called numbers from dial pad
• Contact groups shown in on the right hand side, allowing more space in the side bar
• Call Quality Feedback
• Several minor bug fixes

All of it pretty much pointing it to being the minor "dot release" that it is. The Mac release notes have also been updated with the same information.

I will say that the removal of the Contact groups from the left sidebar is a huge benefit to me. The result is a MUCH more compact sidebar:

The contact groups have now been moved over to the top of the right window area (the "main" section), which works nicely.

Unfortunately once I clicked on a group, I could find no way to return to the full set of contacts (and I've raised a bug ticket with Skype on this).

UPDATE - 3/25/11: It turns out that to return to the full list of contacts, you simply have to click on the "group" named "Skype." My response in the ticket was that this is NOT intuitive (consider, for example, that I might have a group myself named "Skype"), but it is apparently how they have set it up.

The "Focus on active speakers in group calls" sounds like a useful feature/fix... but I don't honestly find myself using Skype for all that many group calls. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing this in action at some point.

In any event, those of you using Skype 5.x on the Mac can upgrade now... or will soon see an update notice.

P.S. Find anything else of value in the release?

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

Over on his VoiceOnTheWeb site, Jim Courtney wrote up a good review of Skype 5.2 for Windows that was recently released. Jim's summary: subtle window dressings.

It's interesting to read... consider the subtle shift of moving the "Video call" button over to the left so that is the first button:

No longer having any Windows systems in my home office, I'm not running Skype 5.2 so I appreciate Jim's review. Do check it out!

---

UPDATE: - Shortly after I published this, Jim Courtney came out with a second post about Skype 5.2 explaining some changes to dialing PSTN numbers.

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

Would you like to make it so that when you add someone to a Skype chat they automagically see some of the recent history of the chat? So that people joining a team or a project can rapidly come up to speed on what has been discussed?

This turns out to be ridiculously easy to do in a Skype group chat. An administrator for the chat simply has to type in the chat window:

/set options +HISTORY_DISCLOSED

After this, anyone joining the chat will see recent history. Per Skype's FAQ on chat commands:

Joiners can see the conversation that took place before they joined. The limit that they can see is either 400 messages or two weeks of time, depending on which is reached first.

I've enabled this setting on a number of chats for which I am an admin, and it's definitely helped newcomers come up to speed on what is being discussed in the chat. (Of course, some of those chats are very busy and so 400 messages may only take you back a very short period of time.)

Note, again, that you must be an administrator of a Skype chat for this command to actually execute. You can type it if you are just a user in the chat, and Skype won't tell you that it didn't execute... but it won't. You have to be an admin.

BROKEN IN SKYPE 5.1?

Now, having said all this, I recently had two people join a Skype chat and not get any history upon joining. In asking what Skype version they were using, it turned out both were running the new Skype 5.1 on Windows. Did this chat history feature get broken in Skype 5.1? I don't know... and given that I have no Windows machines around to test, I can't tell you for sure.... but I thought I'd mention it in case you have people joining a chat and not getting any history. You may want to find out what version of Skype they are using.

P.S. Note that this is VERY different from the "/history" command in the IRC-style commands for Skype I recently wrote about. The "/history" command loads the chat history ON YOUR COMPUTER into the window for the chat. However, this history is only available for the time that you have been in the chat. You are NOT able to get the history of the chat before you joined. The only way to get that previous history automatically is if an admin set the option described in this post before you joined the chat. Once you are in a chat, the only real way to get chat history is to ask someone else to copy/paste their history either directly to you or in the chat itself.

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

Many folks who are new to using Skype for group chat may not be aware that Skype brings along some of the commands that are popular in IRC chat systems - and the general "/" style of commands used in IRC. To see the list of commands, simply go into any Skype chat (it could even be a chat with only one other person) and type the following command:

/help

This will work on old and new versions of Skype and will give you a list of what commands are available:

Available commands:
/add [skypename]
/help
/topic [new topic]
/me
/history
/leave
/goadmin
/get creator
/get role
/whois [skypename]
/setrole [skypename] MASTER|HELPER|USER|LISTENER
/kick [skypename]
/kickban [skypename]
/get guidelines
/set guidelines [text]
/get options [text]
/set options [[+|-]flag] ...
/setpassword [password] [password hint]
/clearpassword
/get password_hint
/set password_hint [text]
/set password [text]
/get banlist
/get allowlist
/set banlist [[+|-]mask] ...
/set allowlist [[+|-]mask] ...
/alertson [text to match]
/alertsoff
/call [skypename[,skypename,...]]

You simply type any of these commands into a chat and, assuming you have permission to run the command, the action will occur. The full list of commands and options is available at this URL:

http://www.skype.com/go/help.chathelp

If you are the administrator of a chat, you have access to the full list of commands. You are an admin if you either are the original creator or a chat - or were promoted to an admin by another admin using the /setrole command.

I personally use "/me" a good bit to attempt to add emotion into a text chat (ex. "/me laughs"). I also use /alertson and /alertsoff quite a bit to change whether or not I am notified of new messages in a chat. (I'll note that the recent Skype clients also have a GUI way to do this typically through a menu choice of "Chat Notification Settings...".)

I also administer a number of chats and so use /setrole to give others admin privileges and also /kick and /kickban to remove people from chats.

There are also a few other commands that aren't listed (try /info), but this list has most of the ones I'm aware of.

Anyway, try out these commands... they may help you work more quickly with Skype chats!

P.S. Users of Skype 5.0 have an additional command, "/golive", that I described in an earlier post and that provides a simple way to launch conference calls.

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---

At EnterpriseConnect last week in Orlando, I was walking down one of the hallways and encountered a rather elaborate setup for shooting video:

Turns out that Skype was shooting their own video interview about the Skype / Citrix partnership which they have now posted on YouTube:

Obviously no comparison in quality to my own video interview which was shot with a handheld video camera :-) Nicely done, Skype...

---

If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:

• subscribing to my email newsletter;
• following me on Twitter; or
• subscribing to the RSS feed

---