back to article Skype for Windows 8 is coming: Always on, always in your contacts

Microsoft has dropped the veil on the next version of Skype a few days before it launches on Thursday with Windows 8. The video chat service has been reworked to be always-on and compatible with the live tiles and asymmetric grid that are at the core of the new user interface. Skype for Windows 8 will be "immersive and …


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  1. mark l 2 Silver badge

    Another reason to avoid Windows 8 then. they used to do the same with MSN messenger constantly running in the background all the time and you manually having to keep log out to stop being pestered all day when trying to work

    1. Refugee from Windows

      "immersive and effortless"

      Translates as a ruddy nuisance. We just want to be able to turn it off, or do we just do the default manner of having a user account you can switch to that doesn't work.

      1. Tom 13

        Re: Translates as a ruddy nuisance.

        Not to mention a likely violation of most government and some corporate IT security policies.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Or you could have just gone into the settings and unchecked the "Log in automatically" check box.

      1. moiety

        ...or kill the process. If I don't want something switched on, it goes.

        1. Tom 13

          @AC & @moiety

          Opt out is not never an acceptable privacy or security policy.

      2. Craigness


        No rationality in the Hate Zone please.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        or the other tick box

        "automatically run messenger when i log on"

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Corporate death?

      I know many companies who forbid the use of Skype on the corporate network, it is considered insecure. This sounds like a great way to keep them on Win7

      Hey, maybe that's all Windows 8 is, a way to get the XP holdouts to finally upgrade to Win7?

  2. hplasm Silver badge

    Dropped the veil?


    It's Lifted the veil!


    What- skype on Win8? Who cares- this is important!

    1. Anonymous Coward

      They only do it to annoy, because they know it teases

      Shhh! You'll encourage them!

      And, I propose a vertically agnostic solution: unveiled.

  3. Cannae Tech IT

    Where do the adverts go?

    Do we get scrolling Skype adverts on the home tiles, too? That would be great! Also, none of my contacts have beautiful studio-grade photos, if they have photos at all. Making them bigger is not going to improve my user experience.

  4. Graham Marsden


    You can spend *ALL DAY* being pestered by people who want an *INSTANT* response from you!

    No more them sending an e-mail and having to *wait* for you to reply! No, now they just go on Skype and keep hassling you until you reply just to get them to SHUT UP!

    Who could fail to love such a setup???

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Great!

      So set it so only your contacts can IM you, and set it to "appear offline".

      1. M Gale

        Re: Great!

        Or just, you know, not have the program running and taking up space

        Oh hang on, it's always on isn't it?

    2. Natalie Gritpants

      Re: Great!

      Why not just say "Fuck off I'm busy" to them, it works wonders for me. I rarely have to say it twice.

    3. DJ Smiley

      Re: Great!

      My Boss? :D

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Great!

        In that case, the formula is,"Would you rather I did this, or that I talked to you about it?"

        It's slightly less offensive.

  5. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Have they spoken to the phone companies?

    Hey telcos - be the first to roll out Windows8.

    The phones will cost slightly more than Apple, are less popular than symbian and have fewer apps than Babbage's analytical engine.

    But there's a bonus - your users won't have to pay you for any calls.

    1. Richard 81

      Re: Have they spoken to the phone companies?

      Unless you're on EE's T-Mobile tentacle. In which case you can't get Skype to work over your mobile internet connection. Or at least I can't.

      1. DJ Smiley

        Re: Have they spoken to the phone companies?

        If your UK based; both skype and google talk work for me on my htc one x....

    2. Mark .

      Re: Have they spoken to the phone companies?

      "are less popular than symbian"

      That would mean, one of the most popular smartphone platforms ever, then. (Symbian was number one platform until 2011 when Android became number one, and outsold Apple until it was replaced by WP. Even now, one year later, with hardly any new models, poor or no distribution in many countries, and zero marketing, Symbian is selling per quarter what Apple sold in the first full six months of their iphone, despite vast amounts of media hype. And embarrassingly for MS, it's also still selling more than WP.)

      Yes, WP8 will no doubt be less popular than Symbian was, but so has pretty much everything except Android.

      Fewer apps than the Baggage engine sounds like the original iphone (which couldn't even run apps). Indeed: expensive, less popular than Symbian, no apps, pretty much describes the first iphone :)

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Have they spoken to the phone companies?

        I meant Symbian's current popularity.

        Nokia spokesman = Symbian sales will continue to rise at their historical level until the day we ship Windows8

        Reality = Symbian sales fell of a cliff the day they announced switching to Windows8

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    always watching you

    and I bet those older, ad-free variants won't work, due to "compatibility issues, click here to download and install the latest steam-pile of our spam-crap"

  7. Piloti


    Bloody glad I am linux desktop user......

    1. Bear Features

      Re: Linux....

      yes quite, wasting your time posting on articles about OSs you don't even use. Do you watch TV programmes you don't like too? #busylifenot

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Linux.... @bear feature


    2. Anonymous Coward

      Re: Linux....

      A wise man speaks because he has something to say....

      Fanbois speak because they have to say something......

      Seriously, what the hell does this have to do with YOU and YOUR choice of OS???

    3. Mark .

      Re: Linux....

      So am I, but don't worry - I'm sure that the likes of Ubuntu will be adding this feature too, Unity-style.

      (Yes, I appreciate the advantage of Linux that you can install a distribution that fits your needs or preferences. But then, it's a lot easier to untick the "Always on" option in Windows Skype, than to install a whole new OS...)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They can turn it off.

    They can obviously turn it off. The first time the camera is used without knowing, to film someone's ten year old daughter without their knowledge, MS will be in front of the European Commission.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They can turn it off.

      Most of the time I just read these out of amusement but occasionally you read something that proves Darwinism doesn't work.

      So because it's MS the camera's going to be on... Well as a parent and user of Mac's / Windows plus a variety consoles the biggest problem is not the excellent parental controls Microsoft, Apple, Sony etc put into their devices but the parents that don't bother using them.

      If your young Tarquin does view some smut or gets caught online as the camera is live and they have some suspect contacts on IM ask yourself why you didn't use the parental controls before you start blaming the makers of the software.

  9. This post has been deleted by a moderator

    1. Piloti

      Re: MS wants to use skype to lock people to windows

      ... and Google, with GTalk and Gmail chat will be the happiest tech company around.

      As a Linux user, my Skype is pretty old and has no "features", or as I call them, annoyances. I also use Gmail/Gtalk with one or two Linux applications.

      I may end up slowly migrating fro one to the other as the time passes.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: MS wants to use skype to lock people to windows

      Yep you'll be getting plenty of Nigerian 419ers trying to call you and not way shut them off

    3. Anonymous Coward

      Re: MS wants to use skype to lock people to windows

      This is rubbish. My Android phone has Skype. My Ubuntu desktop has Skype. Skype is available for numerous platforms.

      At least for now...

    4. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: MS wants to use skype to lock people to windows

      They can't lock out non-Windows users, that'd annoy people who have bought Skype phones and tellies. OTOH then again this is MS we're talking about (PlaysForSure).

    5. Magnus Ramage

      Re: MS wants to use skype to lock people to windows

      I think it's unlikely they'll make it Windows-only. Risky to generalise from my own experience but... I'm a light user of Skype, though I find it very useful when I need it. However most of my calls are pre-arranged with the person at the other end. If MS chose to make Skype Windows-only, it would be extremely easy to arrange with the people I wanted to talk to, that we'd just use another platform. I think many others would probably do likewise.

  10. NoneSuch
    Thumb Up


    There is always a better alternative. ooVoo can call Skype contacts as well. Nuff said.

    1. Aitor 1

      Re: ooVoo

      As you calim to use ooVoo, I assume you are spam, a bot or a virus.... because that is what you get from ooVoo...

      1. moiety

        Re: ooVoo

        I use Trillian and that's OK-ish. Integrates with Skype quite nicely and does the job. Also no adverts (or if there are I'm blocking them and haven't seen any).

  11. DrXym Silver badge

    Oh wow

    Always on Skype, that's just like every OS has enjoyed since Skype launched. Thanks goodness Microsoft is on the ball.

  12. Tom 35 Silver badge

    Can you kill it

    In active directory? If we already have Lync we don't need skype too.

    Not that we will be running Win8 any time soon.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Can you kill it

      group policy surely?

    2. Jaruzel

      Re: Can you kill it

      I'm sure you'll be able to put the name of the EXE in the restricted applications setting in Group Policy. I also reckon that someone will knock up a custom ADMX template to allow you to control Skype centrally.

      However... MS already have a corporate conferencing system - it's called Lync Server. Does everything Skype does, plus it integrates into Office/Sharepoint/Active-Directory.

      But then this new Skype is for Windows 8, which we all know will never ever be rolled out in offices.

  13. Peter Williams 1

    No mention of the crappy voice quality, stuttering video and the complaints that 30Mb network is "slow"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Crappy voice and stuttering video?

      I don't have those problem with Skype on my Nexus 7, even on an LTE connection. What platform are you running it on, anyway?

    2. Jan Hargreaves

      You may be paying for 30 Mbps but what are you actually getting?

      That said, I wholeheartedly agree. Crappy voice quality like talking through wall socks, stuttering video like a 10 year old camera phone, and why is it that Skype wants to use all of my bandwidth when not on a video call, while my SIP only needs 64 kbps. Go figure. Have subsequently configured my router to only allow skype 200 kbps. Personally I never run the piece of crap... but other people in the house.....

  14. Toastan Buttar

    Doesn't drain battery?

    How can any processor execute an application without draining the battery?



    Just about the most disgusting thing imaginable.

  16. Paul 129


    I was wondering what the killer app for win 8 would be. The kiddies will be demanding this.

    Sorry you lot, but we are not the target market for this. You pesty kids are.

    "Daaaddd! All my friends are on skype.....[followed by all the evidence that you just don't love your kids enough.]"

    I HATE MS! Devious B@$tards!

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