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Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by pgaddict on Friday June 09, 2017 @09:00AM (#14521022)
I couldn't agree more.

We've been using Skype for internal communication for a very long time. Back then it was the only option that worked on all the OSes we need (Linux, Windows, Mac), had all the features, and it just worked.

But the Electron app is just damn terrible. The message layout is super inefficient - it can display maybe half the messages compared to the native client. If you click somewhere, it un-expectecly moves you somewhere else. And it just stopped delivering new messages some time ago (I've tried to downgrade to 5.2, but that made no difference).

Interestingly enough, the web skype delivers messages just fine (it still sucks for all the other reasons).

And it also does not drain the battery that much. The devs apparently had the bright idea to render the messages window as canvas, and refresh it at 60hz no matter what. Because of emoticons. The web skype does that too, but if the tab is inactive Firefox suspends that.

The only thing that mostly works for me is the Android client. I wonder how they'll break that one.

In any case, we have lost all hope Skype will get better again. Also, there are other options nowadays.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by tracker1 on Friday June 09, 2017 @02:42PM (#14523452)
For a while, I really enjoyed hangouts.. but the past 2 years, google has systematically removed or obscured features, and it's just a bit of a mess now. These days, for skype, I typically just use the web version, as it's "good enough" for my needs, but none of them are really great anymore.

I've worked in one office that had Skype (for business) properly integrated, and it was very nice. But, like so many other things, they couldn't just fix bugs, and make sure to keep it working on new OS versions.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by stryk on Friday June 09, 2017 @10:46AM (#14521730)
What reliable alternatives would you suggest?
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by johnnyhead on Friday June 09, 2017 @01:08PM (#14522720)
I would recommend Wire ( https://wire.com/en/ ). All mobile and desktop OS and web too. In my experience it's reliable and private and the company behind it is extremely open and supportive of its users.

I am not affiliated, I just like it.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by baldfat on Friday June 09, 2017 @10:52AM (#14521775)
This will sound crazy but with the Discord or Twitch App are rock solid, but they are gamer focus and also they are electron apps (I have mostly positive experience with electron apps myself, VS Code and RStudio).

I do like mumble and ran my own server for years, but client wise it is not as easy.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by Filligree on Friday June 09, 2017 @11:09AM (#14521925)
I use Discord for all sorts of things, not just games. What features do you find it's missing that would be useful?
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by half-kh-hacker on Friday June 09, 2017 @11:21AM (#14522016)
The main complaints that I have seen are with video calling and screen-sharing.

These should be added soon™, though.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by Filligree on Friday June 09, 2017 @12:26PM (#14522449)
Ah, fair enough. That's what I've been using Hangouts for, and I don't think it'll change, but more competition is always welcome.
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by RUG3Y on Friday June 09, 2017 @11:30AM (#14522087)
I was introduced to the Twitch app through some gaming friends and I was surprised at how solid it is. It's actually really good.
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by kuon on Friday June 09, 2017 @12:01PM (#14522292)
Did you try riot.im ?
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by baldfat on Friday June 09, 2017 @12:53PM (#14522616)
That UI. I rather just use my IRC with Weechat on Freenode
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by mynewtb on Friday June 09, 2017 @02:21PM (#14523285)
You can choose from a whole catalog of alternative clients.
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by pgaddict on Friday June 09, 2017 @12:12PM (#14522375)
That very much depends on what are your requirements. If you need all the stuff skype supported originally - chat, voice, video, screen sharing etc. then I don't have a solution I'm afraid, particularly if you need support for various operating systems.

What we need for the internal communication (within the company) is a simple IM, integrated with ticketing system (a bunch of generic rooms, per-ticket rooms, linking from tickets, ...). We're pretty much set on using Mattermost for that, which has the advantage of being self-hosted.

For voice (typically group calls with other engineers) we'll probably stick with Skype for now (I the Android app on my phone for that). For meetings with customers we usually use a regular service with dial-in anyway.

We don't do video, and I don't think I've needed screen sharing in the last few years.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by problems on Friday June 09, 2017 @12:29PM (#14522474)
For voice I can highly recommend Mumble, it's trivially self-hosted too and feels well integrated on all platforms.

For video though your options are definitely more limited, keep an eye on Riot, I'm not sure that it's ready yet, but when it is it will present an extremely good option. If you only need mobile, Signal does it today and is probably one of the most stable and secure products around, can't vouch for the video quality though personally.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by btym on Friday June 09, 2017 @12:44PM (#14522565)
>If you need all the stuff skype supported originally - chat, voice, video, screen sharing etc. then I don't have a solution I'm afraid, particularly if you need support for various operating systems.

Google Hangouts.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by eric_the_read on Friday June 09, 2017 @02:11PM (#14523210)
My experience with Hangouts is that the screen resolution is incredibly low for a very long time, and it's super-laggy on big updates (switching virtual desktops, etc.). While appear.in is still somewhat laggy, and occasionally requires one or more participants to quit and re-join, its screen sharing is much better.
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by pgaddict on Friday June 09, 2017 @07:39PM (#14525372)
I've actually used hangouts at the previous company (so roughly 2012-2015 or so), and it worked fine I guess. I don't remember what were the reasons not to use it instead of Skype, but I'm sure there were some.

But I guess we don't really need the video calls that much (After all, who'd want to see video of engineers working mostly from home, right?) and the ability to self-host and integrate Mattermost with the issue tracker etc. is quite neat.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by btym on Friday June 09, 2017 @02:45PM (#14523467)
I have used and like Zoom, but it's not free.
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by AdamN on Friday June 09, 2017 @01:55PM (#14523079)
I really like https://appear.in/

Web-based, supports notification, Slack integration, custom urls.

Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by marmaduke on Friday June 09, 2017 @02:11PM (#14523207)
WebRTC is its main drawback, some browsers e.g. Safari don't seem to support it completely.
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by erk__ on Friday June 09, 2017 @02:29PM (#14523357)
They announced support for WebRTC in Safari at WWDC this week
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by z3t4 on Friday June 09, 2017 @02:47PM (#14523479)
If you just want to talk, SIP via Asterisk (server) is OK. Most phones have built in support and there are apps (Jitsi) that works on most OS's. You can also connect it to land-line for calling those without Internet access.
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by jannes on Friday June 09, 2017 @04:47PM (#14524419)
Re:Microsoft to retire Skype Linux app on July 1 by derjames on Friday June 09, 2017 @11:04AM (#14521882)
Ekiga