Skype 4.0 Beta 1 for Windows
Hello! I’m Mike Bartlett, Director of Windows Product Management here at Skype.
Four and a bit years ago we changed the way people talked. Free calling is something that brings smiles to people all over the world, every day. We’re very proud of that.
Today, we’re announcing the most exciting change to Skype since inception – Skype 4.0 Beta 1 for Windows.
Over the years, we’ve added a lot of richness and functionality to Skype. It’s no longer just a little piece of software for making free calls. Our video calling experience, now enjoyed on over a quarter of all Skype to Skype calls, is starting to take centre stage alongside other great features such as instant messaging, group conversations, SMS & voicemail.
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This video is recorded in HD – we recommend viewing it full screen (for those of you reading this in an RSS reader, you can watch the briefing video here – you can also grab the embed code if you want to use this video in your own blog)
A while ago we realised we had outgrown our home. There was so much to pack in, and Skype got a bit crowded. We learnt that people new to Skype had so much choice, they didn’t always know where to start or how to find things. So we decided to move into a bigger, better home. Skype 4.0 Beta 1 for Windows.
We’re sharing this beta with you a little earlier than normal because we know it’s a big change, and sometimes change can take some getting used to. We’re going to spend the whole summer listening to your feedback and making changes so that when we do launch the final version, we’ll make sure it’s perfect. Because we’re releasing it early, a few little things aren’t available in today’s beta: full history and contact groups are two examples.
This video is recorded in HD – we recommend viewing it full screen (for those of you reading this in an RSS reader, you can watch the introductory demo video here – you can also grab the embed code if you want to use this video in your own blog)
So what’s new then? We’ve given video calling the screen size it finally deserves, plus we’ve made it really simple to use. A single click on the Video call button and you’ll be seeing and talking. Video doesn’t start off really small anymore – it’s big and beautiful to begin with. You can also resize and move your own video window around the screen quite easily. Plus in one click, you can have an IM conversation alongside the video call.
Helping people juggle lots of conversations all at once is another reason behind the big changes in 4.0 Beta. We found people had to keep track of multiple windows in order to have a few conversations. In fact, if you had a High Quality Video call alongside an IM, plus you were sending a couple of pictures that was five windows! It’s now all in one window. Take a look at the Conversations button just above the Contact list. It’s a list of all the conversations you’ve got going on. Just click between them to pick up a conversation right where you left off. You can also pop your conversations out into separate windows if you prefer having different windows for different conversations.
This video is recorded in HD – we recommend viewing it full screen (for those of you reading this in an RSS reader, you can watch the advanced demo video here – you can also grab the embed code if you want to use this video in your own blog)
Finally, we’ve made working with Skype Certified hardware dead simple. We heard some of our users were having problems when plugging and unplugging new devices and sometimes people couldn’t hear them talking. In Skype 4.0 Beta for Windows, the first time you plug in your new device, Skype will automatically detect it and start using it. We’ll remember your devices so that next time, even if you switch headset mid-call, we’ll get it right.
OK, that’s enough from me. Go ahead and download it, try it out for a few days, make some video calls and then let us know what you think.
Update: Sten Tamkivi, the General Manager of Skype Estonia, has also written about the beta on his personal blog:
Yes, it has taken something like 2 years from first conceptual ideas being bounced around. I’ve been involved in Skype’s Desktop clients team since March and I have to tell you … I’m truly proud of what the hundreds of people involved have pulled off
AND Where is the “History” ??
Hi, missing access to the outlook numbers is bonkers as is the lack of activity history. What are you guys thinking? I am moving back to 3.8.
Well the general consensus reading most messages here is that Skype 4.0 have really failed to capture our imagination with a disproportionately large, crowded bloated interface.
Did you do any usability testing before releasing the beta? Considering how well structured version 3.0 this looks like an appalling effort. One of the key strengths of Skype has been the excellent interface that “blended in” with the desktop – the verison 4.0 interface dominates the desktop.
I have re-installed 3.8 and hope that you listen to your users and either give us the option to have a version 3 “skin” or look or even better abandon this ill thought effort and go back to the drawing board.
Skype 4.0 does not work with my Cordless Dual Phone. I came back to version 3.8.
TERRIBLE, MISERABLE OVERDESIGNED BLOATWARE. I installed and played for 2 hours. I couldnt event tell when people were chatting to me..no visible notification. No doubt that will be fixed but pleeeeeeeeeease. This STINKS of microsoft bloatware UI design, so 1990′s. Small, clean, unobtrusive, fast is what users want. Less is more. Skype is already a phenom, dont mess it up by listening to bored engineers. NOT ONE POSITIVE COMMENT. TIME TO LISTEN.
This is good but why is Skype starts up in full screen mode? Can I change that somewhere… I was playing with it for couple hours… Thanks
Wow, what a blow!
I guess you won’t take any of these comments seriously, so I will probably have to wait for a trillian plugin for skype just to have what I had before: a small contacts window and several other extra windows for my conversations. Now I have that huge window wasting my space and the totally unnecessary integrated conversation area. It takes an awful lot of clicks to navigate and is absolutely not what i wanted.
Is this some kind of joke? Will you be charging money if people want to go back to Skype Classic?
Are you serious?????
The most important question after installing Skype 4.0: How do I downgrade?
Okay, I downgraded. Question answered. No stupid “Your version is newer, you cannot downgrade.”
The other question is: will I be able to continue with my version 3 and wait until version 5 is out or will there be some kind of “your version is too old, you have to upgrade immediately”?
Reminds me a bit of Winamp…
This looks good and I am very happy with the ‘all in one’ screen!
The sound and video quality is very good.
The connection between Hawaii and Europe still keeps cutting out once every 10 minutes. I am afraid that this is satellite related and hard to avoid but would be the best improvement if it could be an uninterrupted connection all the way through.
Then another point that seems instable is the switch from full video screen to maximum screen and eventually small (including chat session screen). This “right bottom switch” does not respond or correspond with the commands given.
Then an error message pops up when the connection is lost and I call the Hawaiian number again.
Thanks!
I have already sent a feedback.
But I want to add my opinion to these people and to tell that it’s insanity to make skype this ugly. I do not use my computer all just for skype – it is a program I need to sit silently on the taskbar until somebody writes to me and a window pops up (or doesn’t pop up, if i want so).
Please, upgrade skype’s sound and video quality and do not touch the design or make some subtle changes. Skype’s design had always been improving since the first release till now. And suddenly, all this v4.0 thing broke all the fun and wishes to update to a newer version.
As I stated on the Garage blog, until the screen real estate problem is sorted out, it’s a non-starter. Please change it!
Will test what I can, though.
Regards
Some concerns:
- like almost everyone here I would prefer the contact list as a seperate window to chats, video, calls etc. As most of the time skype is open I am not in a call or chat it just wastes screen space.
- I miss the “blink” effect on recieving a response to a chat.
- The use of background colours on chats made them easier to read – please return these.
- I miss groups.
- I hardly ever use video chats. So I don’t want to reserve screen space for them.
So I am downgrading for the moment, as I was happier with 3.8.
I’ve been searching for the option to “start Skype minimized” ever since I downloaded the 4.0 beta. Tell me I’m just blind and you really haven’t left something as essential as that out.
As everyone else has mentioned, I just want something that sits out of sight and out of mind until somebody chats with me. I don’t spend my life staring at Skype hoping someone will call.
And if you are targeting beginner users then that is a classic usability mistake. Beginner users don’t stay beginners very long. All you will end up doing is annoying them.
Seriously, why is it so big even after downsizing the window?
As well, if you’re looking to have it all in one window, then why are you making properties/profile/account etc.. open separately? Or do it all in one window or keep it to the 3.8 style. There are good ideas there but unfortunately it’s now too frustrating to use.
Hi Mike,
There’s a known issue of “Voice overlapping with Skype call recording” (http://www.pamela-systems.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1107&st=0&sk=t&sd=a) that makes it almost unusable for registring calls with Pamela.
Will this major issue (feedbacked for more than one year and a half) be corrected in Skype 4.0 ? I’ve recently been upgrading to Skype 3.8 but, despite sound quality ameliorations, this issue is still there.
Cheers !
Have always loved Skype but version 4 takes up way too much screen space. This needs to be smaller for me to continue using on a regular basis.
I have just downgraded to 3.8 after a few weeks of Beta 4.0 The final straw was when an unsolicted entry “sexy – sexy girl webcam” or some such title appeared in my contact list. Although I could block the person I was unable to remove it from my contact list. The remove contact option did not appear when I right clicked on the contact. Although that option did show up on any of my other contacts when I right clicked on them. The list of things that are bothersome with 4.0 was adding up. Too big at startup; couldn’t get it to start minimized to the tray; unable to group contacts; was getting no ring back tone when calling via Skypeout to Australia making it difficult to tell if I was getting through or getting a busy signal or whatever; and, no answers to feedback left about these issues. I will wait for the final version and give that a try. In the mean time 3.8 works really fine for me and doesn’t take over my screen when I boot up. By the way I did like a few of the changes…nice overall look and I really liked having the volume control on the Skype window during a call to allow adjusting as needed.
I have installed it and i have reinstalled in just one day the previous version.
The interface is to much invasive.
The skypecast live tab is missing. You can join them only from the browser after clicking the link.
And if You want be the host of a skypecast .. it s impossible to manage it in a easy way. Where is the division between Conversation/Waiting/Listening user?
Why if a contact is not in Your contact list You cant send him in listening mode?
Bye the way when You will decide to insert a permanent ban method to exclude for the whole session of a cast noiser user?
Thank You
i like it i cant wait until it finished
I find it really hard to use. Seriously, I can’t even find the outlook contacts in the new version of skype, and all my groups has just became a mess. Using the new version means that I have to find my contact manually in outlook among 300+ contacts of mine, copy the number and paste it to skype to dial. and the big junky window? oh my god! why on earth do I have to waste that huge space on my desktop just for some cheap calls? anyway, i am going to uninstall 4.0 and re-install 3.8 In a word, the Skype 4.0 is totally a disaster. and I DO hope this is not the trend of future skype.
I don’t like the new interface at all, at the very least provide a way for us to go back to the 3.8 interface.
cheers!
I don’t like the new interface at all, at the very least provide a way for us to go back to the 3.8 interface.
cheers!
Like others, I much prefer programs like Skype that essentially have a buddy list to be unobtrusive. 4.0 Beta 1 is about as far from that as possible. (And I pity anyone that tries to use it on a 640×480 or 800×600 resolution system. The main window is bigger then the screensize of the former and not much smaller then the latter.)
First impressions:
1. For true first impressions, we have to go back a bit to before I downloaded it. I recently reinstalled Windows so didn’t have Skype on the system at all. So I go to the website, click on a download page link and then FDM (Free Download Manager) is asking me where I want to save SkypeSetup-Beta.exe and I did a double take. Why the heck is the Beta version the “default” one to download if you don’t have Skype at all? I mean every other software group I can think of promotes the stable version over the Beta version. That way the Beta Testers are usually people who know what they’re doing and can provide helpful feedback.
2. The Welcome screen. So I install the thing, despite some misgivings due to the apparent “Beta” status. (I’ve Beta tested other software before after all.) Then when it runs suddenly this huge full screen window pops up and I’m going WTH is this? I didn’t bother to really read it, I saw the “Close this welcome screen…” link and started looking for the little checkbox to disable the thing that I knew should be there. (Wasn’t hard to find but, IMHO a better way would be 2 buttons, one saying “Close Welcome Screen” and “Close and Disable Welcome Screen” or something like that. Meanwhile I’m thinking “Welcome screen? Are they actually trying to imitate AOL?” Skype’s welcome screen is even more annoying and less useful then AOL’s. (And that’s saying something.) On the other hand, disabling it actually works which is a plus. But if you intend to keep the checkbox and the text, at least make it bold or something so people will actually notice it before they click the Close link and then start complaining about this screen that comes up every time they start Skype. (And believe me, people will do that. After all, they’ve been known to insert credit cards into floppy drives and CD drives.)
3. Bugs. The Call Phones, Directory, and Shop “tabs” (for lack of a better term) don’t handle resizing very well. Not that you can resize it all that much, but they do have issues with stuff getting hidden or overlapping other stuff. Also, when you click the name of a contact (so that it shows profile info on the right side) when resizing it the whitespace area at the bottom (the unused area below buttons) will alternate between white and grey, and what color it will be when the resizing is complete seems to be random. It seems to be related to WindowBlinds 6.02 because if I unload WindowBlinds the issue goes away. Reloading WindowBlinds after that does not cause the issue to reappear until Skype is restarted.
4. Feature Request. I think it would be a nice feature if you could configure Skype so that if you close the main window it would quit rather then minimize to the system tray. (I’m not sure if I would use it, but it might be useful for people who have pay services who don’t want their kids/spouses/friends using up their credits or something ’cause they forgot that closing the window won’t quit the program or log them off.)
5. Main Window Size. Like almost everyone above I agree that the size of the main window is excessive. A tabbed conversation window (with tabs that can be detached/combined by drag and drop) would be a much better idea I think. (And that’s what my IM client of choice, Pidgin, does. If I want several IM windows tiled across my screen, I can do it. If I want one window with multiple tabs, I can do that. If I want a combination, I can do that too. It’s all about choice.) I don’t think this is a feature that should be put off till the final release because it will mean a lot less people testing 4.0. (And that may include me because I may go back to 3.8 pretty quickly.)
6. When are you going to actually put some work into developing the Linux or Windows Mobile versions? Those programs have been sorely neglected. (Not that I’d want the 4.0 UI on either, but they’re both still stuck with 2.x versions.)
The new layout is really awful, and that’s being kind. I so loved the prior GUI, it was clean, lean and did what it was supposed to do in an unobtrusive way.
Why is there all that wasted space on the right-hand side of the window? What purpose/function does it serve?
Now, when someone Skypes me I have to click to open the window with the chat — it no longer pops-up. It’s totally counter-intuitive.
What gives? Did you guys go corporate and hire some CFO who doesn’t know how people and/or programs work day-to-day? Maybe it’s the dude who is responsible for Vista or something?
I can tell you one thing for sure, I will not download this for my Mac — no way.
Please post the prior versions so we can download that and re-install. Yikes!
Paying for your service I was waiting for a fully skinnable UI, since the current 3.8 version still is taking too much space in my point of view. Look at all those other messengers available (e.g. Miranda), that have improved so much after their initial release. They never had that strange idea to put everything into only one godzilla-like window.
What I can see now is everything but the opposite of what I was expecting. Many professional designers are willing to contribute their skills on developing an attactive interface, that is comfortable and accepted by everyone. It seems that not a designer, nor a psychologist for interface design ever took a look on your current project. Maybe time to invest on those?
Time to switch back to 3.8 now. Hmm, I can only select one reason you offer me to select on the downgrade-survey?
So sorry to tell you all this. Happy restart!
When I first installed the Beta (the default download, btw), I simply couldn’t believe my eyes. “What is all this shit?”, I asked myself, “reminds me of the Real players of yore”. “Ah well, surely there’s an option to turn this shit off”. But no. Unbelievable. I’d love to have a record of the design sessions that led to this.
Oh well, I hope the uninstaller works.
Too big, toooooo space-hungry!!! Guys, the avatar in chat shall go right/left – most modern laptops screens are wider than taller, so the Info on top eats up necessary space… Main window with THAT sizes – geee, I thought the older Skype was big. After all, most people have got used to the sizes of windows like ICQ/QIP.
Simply AWFUL UI… I installed it, used it for few minutes and went back to 3.8. And I will never put it back, unless normal 3.8 sizes are achieved…
I don’t know what the Skype team was thinking when they decided to make the window take up the whole screen. Not like the reason it takes up the entire screen is anything useful… it’s just stupid instructions. Skype was a lot more intuitive to use. Now I have bubbles constantly informing me where my contact list is. Gee, that’s real useful, NOT.
Huge Skype Window = Bad
Old Skype Window Size = Good
hey nice work.. but there is lot to do, in way to bring closer for new users and keep old. I just want to tell that preety interface is nice, but just nice. I have a question for u? Do u now pidgin? Yes u do. I know u do. Pidgin have a option to change a appearance of interface. You can try to change the way how users bring their conversations in other ways. Example: there is a way to change a conversations in tabs, or separate windows. Here isn’t such option. Well there is, but, i think that users will be much happier when all will be automatic, and how to plan it. that s all of me, I hope that we’ll be pleased for another Skype experience in our homes.. thanks again.
Dejan Zafirovski
Software Reviewer
PC MAGAZINE – ENTER, Macedonia
I hope the new version will address the constant sexual solicitations I receive. I posted 3 suggestions for Skype to deal with this including allowing users to block chat from users who are less than 30 days old.
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=166851&view=findpost&p=738971
Hi,
yes, the „big screan” skype is not the best idea. On computer can’t be te Skype the major program – lots of people do other things in same time when they talk with each other.
I will prefer the button with comapct mode, where will I see the cam in max 320px height and below the IM in height of max 200px (or better – free resize).
And so I got a question: Ill see somewhere that the Skype 4 can run 2 accounts in same time – Ive try it and its work, but I cant find how its work, some like: „C:Program FilesSkypePhoneskype.exe /?”
thnxs
סקייפ ישראל
תגיות:skype
Hi,
I’m gonna try to make as many positive suggestions as possible because after watching the videos and testing the Beta I have formed my opinion that it really is awful. I hope it’s not too late in the development to at least add things and hopefully change this. I also hope people’s opinions are taken seriously and we’re not all ignored as grumpy old farts who just don’t like change!
Firstly things to change (or change back):
-Obviously, the size of the window it uses. It is just too big and clunky. As I’m sure most people do, I like to have Skype on one side of my screen and place other applications or WLM to the side of it. Also, its this is talking about on my 19″ screen. I wouldn’t even consider it for my Windows Eeepc!
-Have the option to get rid of the huge stupid side panel permanently!!
-Chat boxes are detatchable but an option should be put in to make chat boxes in new windows by default. For people who use full screen applications or gamers, it is much easier to alt + tab to the specific chat window you want rather than going to the main Skype window then wasting time clicking around trying to find it. (Also the old chat box style was nicer)
-The new design is pretty hideous. Huge fonts for the tabs, your name and the names of people in conversations, which are harsh on the eye as well as everything seeming to merge into each other rather than having defined lines. (This is also where windows helped)
-Bring back the old easy to access History etc… tabs!
-Bring back the old big call and hang up buttons (although the video call one is good too).
-There’s no reason why the new larger video stuff (which is good) can’t have a new window option too where you can put it how you want it rather than having to have all of Skype open, dominating your screen just so you can watch your friend pick their nose!
-Having to choose between viewing a list of conversations or your contacts is annoying.
-Respect people’s intelligence and ability to use a computer! Most current users do not need to be told what to do every step of the way!
-This is a new one but has annoyed me for AGES! When the little box comes up when someone calls you with the “pick up” and “reject” buttons, when you pick up the call Skype is brought to the front. You’ve just picked up the call, you know that and what you probably want to do is carry on looking at whatever you were looking at!!! This is especaially annoying when watching a film or playing a game.
-I know its been said a million times, but the size of the window does just make things harder to find.
-Clicking on a contact now brings up an entire biography of them and your history together rather than just nice and simply showing their personal message and picture.
-The new layout makes it feel much more geared into making you spend money. (As useful as that can be with Skype)
-Having what different people said in different colours in chat was useful.
-Being able to set your own background was nice too…
Thats all the negative I can think of for now so time for some POSITIVE i guess:
-The options to easily change volumes and mute your mic in call.
-Searching contacts, groups and chat topics.
-Better and bigger video quality (when you want it!).
-Being able to see the time that another person is living in.
-Being able to view a lof of info about one contact in one window, although this should be optional not instantly when you click their name.
-The new “Find”, “View Old Mesages” and “Mark as Unread” tools.
Overall, there are some good new features but with a terrible new interface. Bulky, overinflated, ugly, and counter-intuitive design. A real shame as I would like to use some of the new features but think I’m going to have to stick with 3.8.
I just don’t want to have to spend loads of time in the Skype window, managing it all stuck there in front of me. I want it to work for me! The option to put new windows (like chat or video) into the main window to manage would be so much better.
Anyway, I’m going to go reinstall 3.8 and hope for the best!
Just went back to 3.8
I tried 4.1 for a week and frankly hate the new UI.
In OZ, we have a word for it “F’Ugly”.
I don’t need to detail what’s wrong with it, it’s been done in spades (see above). What a tragic waste of resource.
I hope you are keeping records of how many people downgrading back to 3.8.
I am quite sure I am not the only one.
Jep, Mike you are absolutely right about the advantes of a new Skype beta (minus window size). I was also slihtly put off over the size of the window, but not having to switch between upto five conversation window is a great pro. Will give it a try, but the first impression is rather positive.
WILL IT WORK WITH VISTA??!!??
I bought a Sony Vaio laptop with Vista a few months ago and Skype worked for a while and then suddenly I can’t hear anyone (I don’t know whether or now they can hear me). Your tech people have tried to solve the problem with no success and the web talk says it’s a Microsoft/Vista interface problem and neither of you will take responsibility for solving it. I have been a devoted Skype user since its inception and now I am desperate. I have to be in France and I have a very ill elderly mother in the US and need to speak with her and her doctors daily. I am afraid to download 4.0 for fear of making things worse. PLEASE HELP!! bskarol
Please re-work the user interface. Good usability also means not wasting space.
Skype is a tool for me and not something that needs to impress me with ‘bigness’ and fancy design. Check many of the most often used web sites on earth…design follows function. Google works beautifully without wasting space and blowing things up and looking fancy.
When I have business talks I usually have to go through documents and applications at the same time on the same screen. That’s why I like the skype interface small.
Ralf
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And I think you guys should not publish the user’s skype names here…just like you would not publish a user’s email. I didn’t realize that when posting.
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Please delete my comments (this one and the one above). I don’t want my skype name available for any bot and any spammer that comes along.
I have just found out that when a user (using a skype version below 4.0 of skype) sends me a CONTACT it has not shown anywhere in my skype 4.0. Correct this.
I have a question. Is 4.0 going to use proxy like it is supposed to? That is, send traffic only through the proxy and not try to break out to the internet in every way possible.
Really, you should see our firewall logs, it’s ridiculous.
Please, please, please, fix this.
The new version is terrible!!!
Please do never release it and stick back to basics and modest programming.
You do not need to emulate M$ producing the overblown software!
On the other subject, I came to this page directly from SkypeAPI where I’ve been logged in.
Why do I need to log in again into this blog?
Aren’t they both on the same platform?
jas
Hi I am from Bulgaria and love the new skype I have only ONE PROBLEM I CAN’T RUN ANOTHER ACCOUNT FROM THE SAME COMPUTER WITH THE NEW SKYPE . I try whit everyting pleas help.
we are new to skype as of today and want our friends to know about it. However, we were very disappointed when we viewed the list of email providers to connect with our contact list and did not see our DEAR GMAIL listed as one of the options. Why is this?
Count me among those who do not like the new interface. It is not intuitive! The screen is too big; even when not in full screen. I use a laptop more often than not – but even on my 24in monitor it’s too big. When I travel Skype is my main communication tool. This new window is bulky and gets in the way of “communicating”; which is the objective. I’ve been using Skype since 2001, and I’ve had no complaints – until now! Bottom line I am going back to version 3.8. While I enjoy the improved voice quality – I completely “HATE!” the interface. I’ve done my best to provide constructive criticism and I hope you are listing to your customers – as they do not like this new product. Personally I will not get use to this interface, but I’m glad that the people at Skype did. You can run it as an internal app to justify the investment. Looks like the UI design people need to get an update on usability and user friendly methods; not to mention an update to the 21st century on design tools.
What I don’t like:
- Right window pane; it takes up precious screen space
- Having to undock the conversation window every time I start a chat; I never use the right pane don’t like it; also often have multiple conversations going on simultaneously.
- The layout of the undocked chat window.
- The crap above the contact list; somehow you have taken the same information and made it irritating
- The crap below the contact list; the tabs were very effective.
- The layout of the directory and call phones; are you making this product for blind people? Or perhaps your developers are working in high resolution and fail to view the app on smaller screens or at lower resolutions.
- The Shop button. Yeah, you gotta make money – but “visit store” was probably enough
- Lack of control on video
What I do like:
- The contacts / conversations push buttons; can be very effective when you have several contacts.
- The volume controls displayed while on a call.
- The personalize button
- Improved voice quality
I do not like that my Skype name is posted.
I don’t like the new version in that it does not notify you when you receive a new IM. It gives you a number at the Skype tag but unlike the old version, it does not give you a sound or change the color of the tag. I often close the Skype window and work on other things. I want to know when someone sends me an IM by both sound and color change. This is very inconvenient!
With the old Skype there was no problem with dialing in extra numbers when connected to an automated telephone system, ie. press 1 for this department or 2 for this etc. Now when I try to key in a digit it types it out in the SMS section. I want to make a call not an SMS.
I suppose I will have to download the old version.
Please add an option to hide the right hand content so just the contact list is visible.
Have an option to force conversations/chats to undock automatically. When more then one undocked conversation/chat is opened, have tabs for them at the top of this undocked window.
The big bloated mass on the right is going to be in the way most of the time.
Impression
To make it short – I like this change
It keeps all my Skype communication in one window and its really easy to follow up all chats. I dont have to manage many windows.
Its design is fun and easy.
I see that Skype is moving from small communication program to communication center field
New features that I like
* Chat log (overview) for every day;
* Possibility to mark chats “unread”;
* All active and missed chats are in line and marked with numbers
Things that I miss (not in this Beta)
* Birthday reminders;
* Skype groups;
* Skins;
For next Skype versions
I really would like to have my Skype chats archived at Skype server
If Skype is moving more into communication center field, then why not to merge it with popular email and calendar options – Gmail family?