Skype/Micro$hit Crap

As soon as I found out MS had taken over Skype I purged it from all my PCs. Any of those mega-corporations getting involved and it's the kiss of death AFAIC.

^ This! "Better is the enemy of Good Enough!"

Yet one more example of an "upgrade" causing the actual product or service to be LESS useful. (Sounds like a downgrade to me.)

We've been having very effective multi-party video conferences using . Only modern browsers need apply, as it makes use of recent features to create direct point-to-point connections (through firewalls! no idea how). Both audio and video compression quality and echo cancelling seem excellent. The paid-for version also supports screen or window sharing. It just doesn't have a way of inviting someone to the call. For that we use Telegram.

Telegram is good as a strongly-encrypted point-to-point messaging client, and though it has voice calls too, the echo cancelling fails badly if the network latency is variable. Use headphones at both ends or forget about it and use something else. The authentication is based on a public key system that arranges the initial key exchange using the phone numbers, so there doesn't seem to be a way of establishing a new contact using the web version.

Between the two, we have no further use for Skype.

Clifford Heath.

Same here. And I also requested my account to be deleted. That was not easy, but I succeeded.

(most abandoned Skype accounts still exist 10 years after they were last used)

Consider Zoom, it is IMO way better. So far I have never seen Skype screen sharing actually work. Same with some other services.

Hi Joerg, You mentioned Zoom a few weeks ago. I'll give that a try.

...Jim Thompson

Even before that I never saw screen share working right. We use Skype only to chat with relatives in far-away lands and have installed it on a little Android box that is hooked to the TV. We can see each other without having to cram into the office which is nice. Though it's a sorry state of affairs that we can never share photos on the PC with them.

I've used it extensively and never had a time it didn't work. Including just yesterday.

Clifford Heath.

Being spread across several sites and in different countries, we use Skype *all* the time (I avoid meetings but still average one or two a day). Screen sharing works quite well.

I've had numerous occasions (including corporate) where it failed so I am using more reliable services. With GoTo the audio sometimes fails because their protocol seems not to prioritize audio in low-BW stuations as it should. Zoom is so far the best, never failed once.

No personal opinion yet. Recommended by journalists to protect sources.

Your argument about Skype is false. It works just fine.

It didn't for others on the calls either, so not false.

Thanks. Though real conferencing with screen and computer control share seems to be a bit away still:

Quote " It lacks video, often drops calls, and doesn't always integrate with your phone's existing features. A Signal update gradually rolling out now upgrades the calling features and adds video, too?but might require its most privacy-sensitive users to take an extra step to protect themselves".

For real engineering work we need to be able to take over mouse and keyboard control from others. For example, when a client engineer asks me to do a tricky layout section on an RF stage or a switch-mode converter. Just showing a picture doesn't work. Showing how it's done on their board is much more efficient and "teachable" than explaining it in words.

Evidently, you and Baer have a lot in common.