Re:Google Hangouts Removes Merged SMS Conversations, Adds Video
by niftich on Wednesday July 13, 2016 @05:38PM
(#12089871)
After being acquired by Microsoft, their product strategy for Skype was unclear. It was still offered as a standalone application, and at one point it got Facebook login integration and eventually Microsoft account integration. In 2013, they shut down WLM [1] and told everyone to use Skype.
Meanwhile on Windows Phone, it was discontinued on WP7 [2], while WP8 had native 'iMessage'-equivalent apps backended by Skype, but also a downloadable Skype app. If you installed both, you got double notifications. Was it supposed to be the platform-native messenger? On the phone, the answer was 'yes', but on the desktop it was 'no', or 'not yet'.
Desktop Windows 8 eventually also got a Metro app, but then it was killed [3]. Now they're about to release another one [4].
Meanwhile on Windows Phone, it was discontinued on WP7 [2], while WP8 had native 'iMessage'-equivalent apps backended by Skype, but also a downloadable Skype app. If you installed both, you got double notifications. Was it supposed to be the platform-native messenger? On the phone, the answer was 'yes', but on the desktop it was 'no', or 'not yet'.
Desktop Windows 8 eventually also got a Metro app, but then it was killed [3]. Now they're about to release another one [4].
[1] http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/15/3991370/windows-live-messe...
[2] http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-discontinues-skype-w...
[3] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/06/micros...
[4] http://blogs.skype.com/2016/03/24/skype-universal-windows-pl...