Why did they ruin Skype

Paul in Houston TX on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 13:32:50
-0600 typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
pyotr filipivich wrote:
micky on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 02:32:41 -0500
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
Rant number 75.

For some reason I looked at Skype on win10. They call it Skype Preview
and it comes preloaded, but apparently it's not a preview of better
things to come, it's the only Skype you can get.
(snip)

But it is "in", it is the stylish way to do things. All the top
designers agree, that grey text on a white background enhances the
computer experience. Along with the flashing widgets, the drop down
banners which won't go away, and the "forward this to your social
media which cover the left side of the screen. "Its in. totes kewl,
ya know." Never mind those nutjobs who are trying to use the
computer, they just have no aesthetic sense.

Agreed.
My employer installs Win7 Skype 7.3.0.101 on our computers, thousands of them.

Facebook is generally not allowed by serious business and government in the USA.
Maybe it's used by California techie companies that we really don't need.

The sidebar is on a lot of new web sites. On occasion I have
decided to forgo reading the article due to the "dancing rabbits
selling toilet paper."
--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

On 25/11/2016 07:32, micky wrote:
Rant number 75.

Crap from a known idiot snipped.


The reason skype has been changed because Microsoft knows that there are
so many idiots like you who won't know any benefit from modern
technology so why bother to give them anything suitable for them!!



--
With over 400 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 08:09:01
-0500, Silver Slimer wrote:

On 2016-11-25 2:32 AM, micky wrote:
Rant number 75.

For some reason I looked at Skype on win10. They call it Skype Preview
and it comes preloaded, but apparently it's not a preview of better
things to come, it's the only Skype you can get.

But they don't tell you this so I had to google skype and when that
didn't help I googled skype win10 and you'd think that would do it
but I still had to hunt before I found that Skype Preview was the only
Skype I could get.

And boy did they ruin it. Ever since MS bought it I guess, but I also
started it on my XP netbook and it updated before starting to the most
recent version, which is copyright 2016 but works the same and looks
just as nice as any previous version.

But in Win10, it's all black like Skype is part of a motorcycle gang**,
, nothing is the same. and when I found my list of people I call, which
in the old version and the current XP version is in the first screen
that shows, when I found the list and I click on a name, it doesn't show
the phone number, which is the reason I look there half the time. Maybe
if I called them, and it's 2:30 at night, I could see the phone number
that way. Oh, I can right click and click View Profile and then in
very small print it has the number, but I have to do that for every
single entry. . Why do they make it so hard?

**and some of the white letters are so dim I have to move to less than a
foot from the screen to read them. My sister-in-law's name looks like a
dim neon light that's broken in parts. Only the top of the R and the
right side of the a are dim. The rest is very dim.

I should give them credit for still having an XP version, but I'm not in
the mood. .

I tried liking Skype but there are a few things going against it:

1) the interface is terrible. It takes up the whole screen for no good

That doesn't bother me because I run everything maximiized if I can.
Seeing end of lower-lying of windows show at the edge of other windows
does bother me.

reason and bundles ads that nobody would appreciate.

I haven't gotten ads yet. I've only made one call in the last year,
but didn't see any ads.

2) it doesn't integrate properly with Windows 10. If you use the metro
app, you get few features but at least it integrates with the rest of
the operating system; if you use the desktop app, you get all of the
features minus the integration

The only integration I know was the ability for it to recogize phone
numbers on webpages (and in email?) so I could click on it and dial it.
That seemed so modern and cool, but after a couple days I realized I'd
see about a thousand phone numbers before I'd want to dial one, so I
turned it off. (Making phone numbers into links made them harder to
copy and paste, which is what I usually do.)

3) nobody uses it anymore as a result of Facebook being a lot more
convenient and giving you many of the same features

I did notice they seem to think of Skype as a way to keep in touch with
my friends as a group, like Facebook does. If I want to do that, I
send them all the same email. I only use Skype to make phone calls,
especially when I had no long distance service, or for a few days I had
no phone at all. It's a backup for me. Now I have a long distance
that charges only a penny a minute for international calls to
"industrialized" countries. Skype was over 2 cents, still plenty cheap,
but have to use the computer mike and computer speakers.

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Sat, 26 Nov 2016 08:39:33
+1300, Ralph Fox wrote:

On Fri, 25 Nov 2016 02:32:41 -0500, micky wrote:

Rant number 75.

For some reason I looked at Skype on win10. They call it Skype Preview
and it comes preloaded, but apparently it's not a preview of better
things to come, it's the only Skype you can get.


Have you tried one of these old versions?

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=old+version+skype

not yet but thanks.

[Followup set to only the Windows 10 newsgroup.]

Well I finally happened upon LIght Mode, and that made everything
legible, and it's probably almost as good as it used to be. (and when I
couldn't find my portable phone, I used it to call myself and let it
ring and ring.)

It's nice that it still knew I had 7 dollars in my account, and when I
installed it to the phone, it knew about the 7 dollars also.

At 2.3c a minutes that's 100 minutes or so. I don't know how much
airport wifi costs It will also pay for that. I used it once but don't
remember.

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 10:17:32
-0800, pyotr filipivich wrote:

micky on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 02:32:41 -0500
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
Rant number 75.

For some reason I looked at Skype on win10. They call it Skype Preview
and it comes preloaded, but apparently it's not a preview of better
things to come, it's the only Skype you can get.

But they don't tell you this so I had to google skype and when that
didn't help I googled skype win10 and you'd think that would do it
but I still had to hunt before I found that Skype Preview was the only
Skype I could get.

And boy did they ruin it. Ever since MS bought it I guess, but I also
started it on my XP netbook and it updated before starting to the most
recent version, which is copyright 2016 but works the same and looks
just as nice as any previous version.

But in Win10, it's all black like Skype is part of a motorcycle gang**,
, nothing is the same. and when I found my list of people I call, which
in the old version and the current XP version is in the first screen
that shows, when I found the list and I click on a name, it doesn't show
the phone number, which is the reason I look there half the time. Maybe
if I called them, and it's 2:30 at night, I could see the phone number
that way. Oh, I can right click and click View Profile and then in
very small print it has the number, but I have to do that for every
single entry. . Why do they make it so hard?

But it is "in", it is the stylish way to do things. All the top
designers agree, that grey text on a white background enhances the
computer experience. Along with the flashing widgets, the drop down
banners which won't go away, and the "forward this to your social
media which cover the left side of the screen. "Its in. totes kewl,
ya know." Never mind those nutjobs who are trying to use the
computer, they just have no aesthetic sense.

You're right. I just have to learn to be "in". All my girlfriends told
me I didn't dress in style either. And I need to take drugs. Meth or
something. (I'm afraid to smoke pot. Afraid it will lead to
cigarettes.(plus all the other reasons))

One thing good afaict about the current skype for a laptop is that it
includes Skype Wifi, which they say allows you to log into to pay as you
go wifi, a million sites, like at the airport, without registering, and
only paying for the time you are on. Just start to log in to the wifi,
then in Skype on your laptop, click on tools/wifi and it handles the
rest and bills you from the same source it bills skype phonecalls.
This is a good idea, isn't it???

There is also Skype Wifi for phones but I think it's separate from
Skype.

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 17:22:14
+0800, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" wrote:

On 25/11/2016 3:32 PM, micky wrote:
Rant number 75.

For some reason I looked at Skype on win10. They call it Skype Preview
and it comes preloaded, but apparently it's not a preview of better
things to come, it's the only Skype you can get.

You can always install older versions of Skype.

Good idea.

I was trying to find out what version it was, so I could compare it to
the (most recent) version that was downloadable on the web.

So I tried Help, which I thought might have an About, but instead it
sent me to their web Help page. It asked me if I wanted to rate the
program so I said yes. Here's what I told them, another rant.

Nine Items
I can't find what version I'm using in my win10 installation.
So I can't tell if it's the version I can download from the web.
I still don't know if Skype Preview is all I can have or if I can
download something different and better. Why do you call what I have
Skype Preview and what's downloadable you call Skype?
Unless someone fiddled with my win10 version, it starts in Dark Mode
and it took me a long time to come across Light Mode, all the time I'm
learning to hate Skype. That's why I was trying to download a better
version.
In Dark Mode the scroll bar is so dark it can't be seen.
When I click on a name in my list of names, I no longer see the phone
number. I have to both right click and choose View Profile and then
it's in tiny font. It used to display right below the name in the
middle of the screen without extra clicking. The screen is empty there,
no shortage of space. Why are you hiding it?
Then I have to left click to get back to the list again. Why do you
have to dim the list just because I'm looking at one profile?
Like Android you seem to assume every number is a mobile number. That
is so stupid.
You have four icons in the upper left and only one, the top one, menu,
is recognizable. Why not label them with words! You use English words
lots of other places in the English version.
-- end --

But all of these are tolerable now that I found Light Mode. I've only
used Skype a lot when my home phone was not working for a few days. Only
a little other times.

On Fri, 25 Nov 2016 02:32:41 -0500, micky
wrote:

Rant number 75.
(snip)
And boy did they ruin it. Ever since MS bought it I guess
(snip rest)

That sums it up.

micky on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 22:26:23 -0500
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:

But it is "in", it is the stylish way to do things. All the top
designers agree, that grey text on a white background enhances the
computer experience. Along with the flashing widgets, the drop down
banners which won't go away, and the "forward this to your social
media which cover the left side of the screen. "Its in. totes kewl,
ya know." Never mind those nutjobs who are trying to use the
computer, they just have no aesthetic sense.

You're right. I just have to learn to be "in". All my girlfriends told
me I didn't dress in style either. And I need to take drugs. Meth or
something. (I'm afraid to smoke pot. Afraid it will lead to
cigarettes.(plus all the other reasons))
Oh it does. have a friend who blames pot as the gateway drug. 'If
it wasn't for pot, I'd never have started smoking tobacco!"

One thing good afaict about the current skype for a laptop is that it
includes Skype Wifi, which they say allows you to log into to pay as you
go wifi, a million sites, like at the airport, without registering, and
only paying for the time you are on. Just start to log in to the wifi,
then in Skype on your laptop, click on tools/wifi and it handles the
rest and bills you from the same source it bills skype phonecalls.
This is a good idea, isn't it???

There is also Skype Wifi for phones but I think it's separate from
Skype.

There are days when I consider adding the phone call to
non-Internet sites option. But I don't make enough calls to
rationalize it.
--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

micky on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 22:15:31 -0500
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:

I did notice they seem to think of Skype as a way to keep in touch with
my friends as a group, like Facebook does. If I want to do that, I
send them all the same email. I only use Skype to make phone calls,
especially when I had no long distance service, or for a few days I had
no phone at all. It's a backup for me. Now I have a long distance
that charges only a penny a minute for international calls to
"industrialized" countries. Skype was over 2 cents, still plenty cheap,
but have to use the computer mike and computer speakers.

We went with headsets. The Missus had to have it for a class so
we (I) set it up on our computers and we used it a couple times,
mostly for testing that we had it. This was before we were married,
but, adding pictures to a telephone conversation really isn't all that
exception - at least for us.
OTOH, I have found that having a headset for phone calls,
especially the ones to tech support, usw, a great boon. Although I do
tend to want to end the call with "And is there anything else we can
do for you?" - even when I was the one calling them!
Too much time in call centers. B-)

tschus
pyotr

--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

micky wrote:

(snip)
One thing good afaict about the current skype for a laptop is that it
includes Skype Wifi, which they say allows you to log into to pay as you
go wifi, a million sites, like at the airport, without registering, and
only paying for the time you are on. Just start to log in to the wifi,
then in Skype on your laptop, click on tools/wifi and it handles the
rest and bills you from the same source it bills skype phonecalls.
This is a good idea, isn't it???

Do you have a cell phone? Skype on the laptop is good for voice calling
overseas. For domestic calls I use my Verizzzon cell phone.
It's $52.10 /mo for USA unlimited voice and txt.
My laptops also have cell and satellite modems good for North America but
the company pays for those. Idk how much that costs because we buy blocks of
thousands of minutes. Very few airports have free wifi.
I pass through about 15 per year, all different except the 4 regular ones.

On 2016-11-25 13:17, pyotr filipivich wrote:

But it is "in", it is the stylish way to do things. All the top
designers agree, that grey text on a white background enhances the
computer experience. Along with the flashing widgets, the drop down
banners which won't go away, and the "forward this to your social
media which cover the left side of the screen. "Its in. totes kewl,
ya know." Never mind those nutjobs who are trying to use the
computer, they just have no aesthetic sense.

Thank Apple and that Ive moron for this.

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo Consciousness - the annoying time between naps.

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 19:58:23
-0800, pyotr filipivich wrote:

micky on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 22:15:31 -0500
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:

I did notice they seem to think of Skype as a way to keep in touch with
my friends as a group, like Facebook does. If I want to do that, I
send them all the same email. I only use Skype to make phone calls,
especially when I had no long distance service, or for a few days I had
no phone at all. It's a backup for me. Now I have a long distance
that charges only a penny a minute for international calls to
"industrialized" countries. Skype was over 2 cents, still plenty cheap,
but have to use the computer mike and computer speakers.

We went with headsets. The Missus had to have it for a class so

On a trip a few years ago, I went to the library to borrow books on
tape, but they didn't have tape anymore. They had something like
flashdrives with controls and a jack for headphones, So on the higway
I found a $5 store and bought 3 different kinds of headset for $5, and I
ended up using it when I blew the engine on my car and had to look at
ads for a replacement. Some of them had audio, and the netbook was
nowhere loud enough to hear.

This time I bought a bluetooth wirelss one-ear headset, but though it
tries to connect, and even said to me "Disconnecting" (in a pleasant
voice), but it hasn't worked, at least on the Vista computer. I should
try it on win10 if that makes a difference. But the laptop is XP. I
should try it there.

we (I) set it up on our computers and we used it a couple times,
mostly for testing that we had it. This was before we were married,
but, adding pictures to a telephone conversation really isn't all that
exception - at least for us.
OTOH, I have found that having a headset for phone calls,
especially the ones to tech support, usw, a great boon. Although I do
tend to want to end the call with "And is there anything else we can
do for you?" - even when I was the one calling them!
Too much time in call centers. B-)

LOL

tschus
pyotr

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 19:58:23
-0800, pyotr filipivich wrote:

micky on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 22:26:23 -0500
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:

But it is "in", it is the stylish way to do things. All the top
designers agree, that grey text on a white background enhances the
computer experience. Along with the flashing widgets, the drop down
banners which won't go away, and the "forward this to your social
media which cover the left side of the screen. "Its in. totes kewl,
ya know." Never mind those nutjobs who are trying to use the
computer, they just have no aesthetic sense.

You're right. I just have to learn to be "in". All my girlfriends told
me I didn't dress in style either. And I need to take drugs. Meth or
something. (I'm afraid to smoke pot. Afraid it will lead to
cigarettes.(plus all the other reasons))

Oh it does. have a friend who blames pot as the gateway drug. 'If
it wasn't for pot, I'd never have started smoking tobacco!"

Wow. I've been saying this for years but this is the first
confirmation. Actually in college my friends smoked pot and I woudl sit
there with them and not take a puff. I wouldn't take an illegal drug,
and when I have a back pain, I take one aspirin instead of two most
times. My mother didn't like drugs and it rubbed off on me.

One thing good afaict about the current skype for a laptop is that it
includes Skype Wifi, which they say allows you to log into to pay as you
go wifi, a million sites, like at the airport, without registering, and
only paying for the time you are on. Just start to log in to the wifi,
then in Skype on your laptop, click on tools/wifi and it handles the
rest and bills you from the same source it bills skype phonecalls.
This is a good idea, isn't it???

There is also Skype Wifi for phones but I think it's separate from
Skype.

There are days when I consider adding the phone call to
non-Internet sites option.

??

But I don't make enough calls to rationalize it.

Neither do I really, whatever you mean. I just enjoy this sort of
thing. I wish I owned a business so I could buy more business
computers, copiers, servers, etc. I'd probably fiddle with them all
day long and go bankrupt.

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Fri, 25 Nov 2016 23:35:37
-0600, Paul in Houston TX wrote:

micky wrote:

(snip)
One thing good afaict about the current skype for a laptop is that it
includes Skype Wifi, which they say allows you to log into to pay as you
go wifi, a million sites, like at the airport, without registering, and
only paying for the time you are on. Just start to log in to the wifi,
then in Skype on your laptop, click on tools/wifi and it handles the
rest and bills you from the same source it bills skype phonecalls.
This is a good idea, isn't it???

Do you have a cell phone? Skype on the laptop is good for voice calling
overseas. For domestic calls I use my Verizzzon cell phone.
It's $52.10 /mo for USA unlimited voice and txt.

Yeah, I have one but I didn't sign up for data. But it does have wifi,
and there are a lot of free wifi places around, plus some Skype wifi
places** and last night I learned about apps that would automatically
find and connect to any unprotected wifi. I'm not sure how much better
that is than my looking at the list and picking one, but maybe it's
better.

Wifi - wiman said it had maps of hotspots all over the world, but I
guess you have to get the map in advance. And there is Free Wifi
Connect. I don't know which is better or if I should look further.

Plus I learned that Xfinity gives, it was 2 or 3 hours per month free,
Per month!!! That's certainly more than I'll ever need. And they have
wifi hotspots all over the place. They have 30 within 1/2 miles of me.
It seems that any Xfinity customer gets a modem or something that works
for the customer and on another channel for the public. So it seems
every customer is a hotspot, whether they know it or like it or not,
which is why the map shows them in totally residential n'hoods. OTOH
my ex-girlfriend has Xfinity and she's not on the map. No one on her 3
block street is, on what used to be a farm. There are lots of them a
half mile away in two directions on the commercial highways, but none
listed where she is.. She's had it for over a year, and I figured the
map updated automatically so I don't know what that means.

Just google Xfinity wifi map . Okay I did it:
http://hotspots.wifi.xfinity.com/

Last summer when I wasn't looking the road I was on went right while I
went straight. I checked for wifi where I happened to stop and there
was Xfinitiy, but I didn't know then that I coudl have had a free hour.
I thought it was only for their customers. (After your free hours you
can get another hour for $3 or 4, a day for $8, and a week for $20, a
month for $40, or something like that.)

**Which are 3rd party places that use skype as one method of payment.


My laptops also have cell and satellite modems good for North America but
the company pays for those. Idk how much that costs because we buy blocks of
thousands of minutes. Very few airports have free wifi.
I pass through about 15 per year, all different except the 4 regular ones.

Per pyotr filipivich:
Oh it does. have a friend who blames pot as the gateway drug. 'If
it wasn't for pot, I'd never have started smoking tobacco!"

To the extent that pot compromises one's judgment and (in my experience,
anyhow) cuts a few points off of one's IQ, I would say he may be on to
something.
--
Pete Cresswell