I am surprised that there are no new reviews of recent date. I have been using Skype since about 2003 or so, before EBay bought it from the originators and obviously before Microsoft bought it from Ebay.
There have been improvements in the useful categories of speed, accessibility, and general usefulness. However, there have been some negative changes in system and online screens. The constant updating may be useful for newbies but it is annoying for those of us who have used Skype for over 10 years. Little changes (always without notification to users) make simple adjustments difficult since they seem to never be where they used to be onscreen.
As examples, the listing of contacts based upon "most recent usage" is both good and bad. Good when looking for a recent contact; bad when looking for a contact that had not been used in a long time. Those of us with many contacts can't find old contacts easily. And a choice of HOW to sort contacts (various ways, like alphabetically for instance) has been eliminated. And a way to edit contacts' name information (useful to aid in identifying them) has also been eliminated.
In general, this is a great product BUT the tech programmers seem to make small changes that suit themselves and mostly do what (I have been in the programming business longer than most of them are alive) THEY think THEY would want. Remember that EVERY USER is an individual and most do not do things YOUR way.
Review details
- Interface
- Features
- Ease of use
- Value
- Recommend to a friend? Yes
- Posted Sep 28, 2018 for v8.31.0.92
I have been using Skype since the 2.X days, way back then it was a newer entrant on the market. It offered IM services combined with VOIP, and that was unique enough to gather the support of coworkers, friends, family, and more. It became the client of choice, and there isn't much I regret more.
Skype hit a sweet spot in the 3.X generation. Though there were certainly bugs, it worked. It had customizable UI components, the VOIP had improved, its footprint on the CPU was reduced.
However, 4.x onwards marked a significant change: features were removed, redone, and reworked. The Skype tech-supporters were notorious jerks even when the program worked, so trying to report any of these new problems was greeted with a stream of 'are you sure you're connected to the internet?' hogwash.
Since, this program has been 'improved' into the ground. It constantly sucks CPU when idle, it crashes when closing AND opening, it fails to send messages (sometimes for days at a time), and the chat UI went from simple to ugly. The devsupport team was never great, now their product has caught up.
If it wasn't such an inconvenience to move my Skype contacts to a competitor, I would have dumped this steaming pile when it automatically updated to 4.X.
Review details
- Interface
- Features
- Ease of use
- Value
- Recommend to a friend? No
- Posted Apr 10, 2015 for v7.3