Inside Windows Live - All Comments

JoleneG — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 04:28:50 GMT

I dont mind it, i really like Skype

JJohnson — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 10:37:42 GMT

I cannot stand Skype. It's a horribly written piece of software and utterly frustrating to use, and its interface leaves much to be desired. I refuse to install it on my computer because it can never close properly, it's a resource hog, and I can never connect for video chats with my girlfriend properly. Windows Live Messenger is utterly fantastic in comparison. It just works. I click and I chat. With Skype, on Surface, I try to call her on her iPhone and it ALWAYS hangs up. I try from my Windows Phone 8 (8X) to her iPhone, and it never connects. Ever. Only when she completely logs out, force-closes her app, logs back in, then calls me will it work. It is ROUTINELY the case that it takes 15-30 minutes for us to call each other with Skype, with dozens upon dozens of "call started" and unable to connect or call failed messages.

I completely dread using Skype for video calling. I'm trying to get my girlfriend to switch from iPhone to Windows Phone, and this does not help me one bit. She NEVER has a problem with Facetime on the iPhone.

Also, will Skype have the drag and drop to share (pictures, videos, music, web links, files) that Messenger has? That is a huge reason I continue to use Messenger. Will Skype have ALL the emoticons Messenger has, including the ability to add new emoticons at will? Will we be able to save our entire chat history with friends to my local PC? Will we be able to play multiplayer games with friends over the Skype client? Will we be able to do group text or video chat for free? If not, I will continue using messenger until it's shut off as a service, and then I will not have an instant messenger at all, because I refuse to use Skype on my main computer without those features.

I dread the day I have to use Skype to IM.

Shell78 — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:22:39 GMT

I was more than happy with Windows Live. It was my main way of chatting cause I'd gotten pissed off with Yahoo. But I HATE skype!

Windows Live also had far better cam quality than Yahoo, but looks like I'm going back to Yahoo instead of settling for shitty skype.

Also, I don't know if it's just an issue I'm having, but already I can't cam chat on Windows Live. If it's a main change, a little heads up would have been appreciated so I can go elsewhere. What's the point in a chat program if you can only send a cam message and not actually cam while chatting??????

Cam should have been left alone until the whole things was terminated. Way to piss loyal fans off and you expect us to follow you to skype - LMFAO!

Not likely!!!!

MIGUELANGELHERNANDEZ — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:39:32 GMT

hola porque nos tienen que enlasar en un solo lugar tenemos el derecho y todavia la libertad de estar en tweter o facebook o en ninguno de los 2 mucha gente no dece4a mas facebook y tenemos que verlo hasta en la sopa,

MIGUELANGELHERNANDEZ — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:36:34 GMT

despues de instalar esta ultima vercion,tengo grandes problemas xcom enviar mis fotos,skydrive no se lo que hace yo embio una foto sola en un email y el hace todo un relajo embiando un albun de fotos intimas a personas que solo le embie una foto,,o sea es una mierda esto deven reparar o esplicar mejor como funciona,Me parese que esto es una forma mas de hacer publicidad al telefono inteligente que no esta a un precio todavia avordable y es una pantalla en miniatura,no todas las personas entienden este sistema ni nos intertesan los telefonos ifhone yo tenia uno y me robo la compania en un mes 149$ sim tener internet com ellos solo cervicio y call id es increible,,podrizan esplicarme si esto solo me pasa a mi o a otros les pasa se van las fotos en un albun sin nuestra autorisacion y estamos conectados enlasados en todas partesa,parese lo que dice la biblia se cumple que el anticristo controlara la informacion en un solo9 lugar,,Yo no veo respeto ni privacidad enlasando unos com otros para perder el control de nuestra libertad skydrive es una basura que no funciona

Anamon — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 02:32:23 GMT

"We’re confident that Skype provides a better experience and even stronger network."

You can't be serious? The IM functionality of Skype is utterly useless, and always has been. It always felt like nothing but a last resort in case audio/video calls give out.

I cannot be selectively invisible to certain groups or contacts. There is no offline messaging. Conversation histories don't work in a useful way. They can't even get the sync right, constantly delivering old messages marked as "new", just because you're on a different device when the conversation partner comes back online. I say this both as an end-user and a programmer: Skype IM is a disgrace in every way.

Worst of all though is that it's unreliable. What good is an IM service if I can't know whether my messages get delivered? Some friends of mine have actually resorted to calling people (on the phone or via Skype) to ask them whether they received their Skype IM messages. What good is such a protocol? And these issues aren't new to the Skype team, they've been floating around the support forums for almost as long as Skype exists, being brought up again and again. But Skype have made it abundantly clear that they don't care about fixing bugs.

Here is what I would want, or rather, expect you to do: take the IM protocol, network, and functionality of Skype. Throw it all in the bin, never to be seen again. Take the MSNP, the Live network and WLMs functionality, and work on integrating them into Skype. That way, we will at least have a replacement for WLM. Because, again, the thought of calling Skype IM a replacement for WLM is a bad joke.

Anders ljungberg — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:56:35 GMT

I think you should do skype as good as windows live messenger before avec finished messenger.

skype not saying you have new emails. there's no vibe either

actually if I compare skype with windows live messenger so is skype outmoded

and my mobile phone is tough when I log in with microsoft id in skype app for android. I log in with skype id so the phone alert

Nater — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:49:18 GMT

Microsoft will pay for not releasing a decent WLM client for Android, the way they did for iOS.

Sorry, but I'm downgrading back to Windows 7 cause the Facebook backend support on Windows Live is absolutely f*****g terrible. Delayed Messages, Missed Messages, horrible MPOP support, complately f***s up other clients (i.e. mobile clients on Android). It's one of the main reasons I ditched Windows Phone 7.5. It's a terrible platform for communication especially with the terrible way the IM client works. Skype is even worse, because it doesn't even allow you to add WLM contacts in the Android client, and probably not the Windows Client, either. Most of my IM buddies are on Yahoo!, not Windows Live. I use WLM because:

1. It is interoperable with Y! IM, and

2. Microsoft has better services than Yahoo!

But I've already started moving things back to Google Drive/Gmail and I'm getting ready do shell out for some storage there.

I just spend over 1.5 hours trying to add a Yahoo! contact and still haven't succeeded at doing that. I don't receive his invitations. He only receives email invitations that tells him to download Windows Live Messenger. It's not worth my time anymore. I'm moving on.

Going back to Windows 7, cause this Start screen makes me want to throw my computer into the wall (yes, seriously), installing Yahoo! Messenger and using Google Talk for the rest. No more missed/delayed (sometimes by hours) IMs. No more BS hopping between two distinct user interfaces on my computer. No more terrible compatibility issues with games (and I'll gain a ton of performance back in some of them that run like crap on Windows 8 but were flawless on Windows 7).

I'm done with this.

You people have no clue what it's like to use your products. Use Lync Less. Use Messenger More. Deal with it for a few weeks, then talk about how great this B.S. move is.

P.S. Again, no one I know is going to create a Skype account, and I'd have to be an absolute retard before I suggest a surface over an iPad mini to anyone because the Windows Store is a steaming pile of crap. It is not fun being a Beta tester. Sorry.

Sesh — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 03:57:29 GMT

One of the reason I used messenger was its simplicity. Besides, it also allowed privacy.

- No one could take photos of a webcam session for example whichis quite important as I donot like people takinmg photos of my family that is in a webcam session. Once a digital photo is taken and out of your hands, it is never truly back in your hands. Messenger never allowed that.

- The user interface is cluttered in Skype. The chat window is quite small too. Either you call/see or chat. During a video chat session, I share links. One good example is a link to an Amazon website for something I am mentioning as better and a link then and there just makes matters clear. On msn, the chat is vertical to the video and it is almost immediately recognised. Unlike skype where its a small window hidden away and an additional 30 seconds of interruption on the link being sent, found, scrolled and clicked...sheer inconvenience and nonse.

- Themes, it is fun to just chage themes and play while in a conference. My video conferences are seldom solo. It is usually with families and almost always kind...so while we adults are talking, I can entertain kidsby changing UI

I can go on. It is these simple yet powerfiul things that make3s messenger a joy to use. Yahoo has these now. I had quite abandoned it with the advent of rich improvements on Live messenger, Google + hangouts etc...perhaps, for it is time to revisit it back and notify my contacts to move over to either Google Plus and/or Yahoo.

Skype is not really for me. On Android, it keeps crashing when I use text in the middle of a video chat.

It needs significant....whatever happened to Microsoft these years? Once upon a time, it used to make products that just worked, Solidly, robustly, feature fully and functionally. Software did what it promised. These days all I see is half baked products and more often than not, I am moving away from Microsoft products and by getting repelled at the quality.

I recenbtly uninstalled Windows 8 that I purchased on the launch day. It just did not make the cut of my home rigour. It is sad...also perhaps, it is time for freshness. I'll revamp my attitude and discard nostalgia and hanging on to it.

Stefen — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 06:01:35 GMT

Hi Brian,

I understand what Microsoft is trying to do and why, but I strongly feel that the change won't go over well for a good number of users, myself included.

I love Messenger in its current form. It does what I need it to do without too much clutter. Being a blind computer user who uses JAWS for Windows, this is extremely important. The more clutter there is on the screen, the more controls I and others who are blind or visually impaired have to go through just to chat with someone.

Not only that, but if I wanted to voice chat, I would use Skype. I text chat, so I use Messenger, because Skype's text chat is extremely irritating in its current form.

What bothers me most about this whole thing is that Microsoft is basically forcing everyone to use Skype in place of Messenger. Why can't Messenger be kept as an option for those who just want to text chat without being forced to run Skype?

If I had to give one suggestion how to make Skype more like Messenger, I would definitely have to say quit cramming everything in one window. Way too many ads, controls, etc, to use it effectively. Just pop up a Messenger style IM window and leave it at that. And please, please use normal controls so people who use a screen reader don't have to shell out large amounts of cash to upgrade their readers just to use a free IM client because the whole interface changes. I know Microsoft works with Freedom Scientific to make Windows work well with JAWS, so it'd really be appreciated if the team took that into consideration.

I'm pretty open-minded, so I won't go off and automatically say that things are going to be extremely horrible, and I'll definitely give it a shot, but the above are very real concerns I have. I just don't like being forced to use something I don't much like because the thing I do like is being discontinued.

epepin — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 23:41:06 GMT

Hi Brian,

I'm excited about the possibilities of an improved an ubiquitous Skype network. I have several concerns about higher quality features of WLM not making it into the new Skype.

1. The best feature of WLM is the digital noise cancelling, so the client is not trying to manage echo by contantly modulating speaker volume. This feature is a must.

2. Screen sharing a a good feature, but many WLM users appreciate the Remote Assistance capabilities in order to help family and friends.

3. Drag-and-drop to share content. Sharing a photo from your computer or the web during a chat session or video call could not be easier in WLM, as far as I can tell, it's not possible in Skype yet.

4. More 16:9 webcam support. One major frustration I have had with Skype is that in the time since Microsoft purchased Skype, there have been several new versions of Skype. But there is still no support for 16:9 video calling using the Microsoft LifeCam Studio HD webcam.

WLM also has a big leg up on interface. The Skype interface is cluttered and the contact list is difficult to manage (e.g. in WLM you can expand or collapse more categories of contacts).

I have written more extensively about how the Skype merger can go well or poorly over at my blog: ericwpepin.wordpress.com/.../a-tweakers-take-on-windows (Skype stuff near bottom).

sadman — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:37:11 GMT

I am sooo tired of Microsoft obsoleting things, killing things off, and just generally being dicktators! I've been an MSN and Hotmail user forever...but they killed the blog I used, and they keep making Hotmail worse...and it's pretty much to the point where this is the last straw! I am going to have to say enough is enough and avoid Microsoft like I have with Apple. There are alternatives, and Skype is not it.

Nater — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:08:52 GMT

Look, I'm tired of this overhype of crap that isn't nearly as good as how you're trying to sell it...

1. Skype Metro App

Terrible. Has Ads in it, which is a bad idea for a Mobile App (Mobile being Smartphone, Tablet, Notebook, or Netbook - anything that can be used without being plugged into a power source). Microsoft proper should have rejected that app when they seen the ads in it. There are no Ads in Messaging hub, why the hell are there ads in Skype "Metro."

The Video calls do not work between Android Phone and Windows 8 PC with Metro App. They do not work properly no matter which way the call is made. It it's a phone model issue then I don't know what to say. This was a Verizon flagship Droid device so they're rather prolific around here (especially since the company got them for everyone they issued cell phones).

Google+ and Google Talk Voice and Video Chat (and Hangouts) work flawlessly (and IRT Google+, even to iPhone/iPod Touch). Yahoo! Messenger for Android works flawlessly. Apps like Tango work flawlessly. It is more convenient and much easier to go to Desktop, Open IE, go to Gmail, install the Google Video Chat plug-in, and start a Google Talk Video Chat from there; than it is to do so between a Mobile and Desktop (W8 Metro App) Skype user using your own app. Is that not an embarrassment.

Secondly in the feature overlap and disparity. There is no way to log out of that Metro app other than to uninstall it. There is no way to Unlink a Skype Account. The Metro App is not Facebook-Connected, so if you have contacts on WLM and Facebook you have to keep both enabled. You can't even send a picture from that app, never mind a Video or any other type of File. This results in duplicate Notifications for everyone in your WLM contact list that sends you an IM. Thirdly, it looks junky because it puts the email address instead of the person's display name in the Notification Pop-Up.

At this point no one should be launching apps this half-baked, and do Apple put Ads in their own Apps preloaded on their own OS (Microsoft owns Skype, mind you)? I don't think I've seen an iMessage user with graphical ads in their IM client main window. Must Microsoft's own apps be littered with Ads as well? I seen this in the News Hub. Really this is making a MacBook with OSX look too freaking enticing to me right now...

2. Skype Desktop App

Just as terrible as the Metro Version, with a ton of its own issues. Look at the buddy list window up there. That "Call Phones" button is way too big and you could have put an icon next to the Home Icon where the user name is displayed instead, with a tooltip that gave the user their Skype Credit balance. There is no need to put it there, right under where you change your status, across the entire window.

In the individual Skype IM windows, chat bubbles are all displayed on the same side of the screen which is confusing to look at. An option to put your name on the opposite side would have been very nice.

The Video Call and Call Mobile buttons could have been put up top and merged with that area. Have you people ever used your app on a 1366x768 resolution display? it looks utterly horrible because a lot of those UI elements waste disproportionate amounts of screen real estate. It looks ugly and it's clunky. No one needs that network status indicator crap sitting there. It's super distracting.

Additionally, Facebook Chat still doesn't allow you to send Offline Messages. Lots of Facebook people aren't actually Offline when Skype sees them as Offline. They're mobile. This means that unless you want to install another 3rd party client, use a web browser, or install Facebook Messenger for Windows Desktop, you have to go to Messaging Hub on Windows 8 to send an Offline Facebook Chat Message (that Hub has its own host of issues I will not delve into here).

The Social Feed window is terrible and Windows Live Messenger runs circles around Skype there. Ad in the Social Feed window looks ghetto, but so does the entire thing.

That Desktop client looks like trash, and I could never use it.

3. Skype for Android

I won't even touch on the rather crappy WP7/7.5 client that I had to use on my HD7 (which I have now sold), or the iOS version which generally functions much better but that's mostly due to iOS' design than to Skype's rather terrible development team.

The Skype for Android app is absolutely rubbish because it still functions like an Android 2.1 application.

It does not use C2DM to Push Messages (unless I missed something), so your battery gets destroyed if you run it in the background, and there's absolutely no reason to use Skype for Video Chat and something else (like Google Talk or Google+ Messenger, or even Facebook) for IM when you can do all of that using the alternatives (i.e. Google+ if you group Video or Google Talk if you only do 1-to-1 Video Calling).

The inability to run an IM client in the background with minimal battery drain and get IMs and calls PUSHed to the device renders it almost useless to people who aren't using it for a specific purpose (i.e. using Skype to make cheap international calls, for example). Samsung accomplished this with the built-in IM client in Social Hub (for Y!, WLM, and Talk), yet Skype fails to implement a "proper mobile IM solution" for their service? Is this a joke? Also, Skype's mobile video calling seems to tax the phone's battery more heavily than some well-known alternatives, while offering next to no benefits in quality to offset that.

Anyone who needs to IM or Video Call me is not using Skype anymore, because I refuse to use it and never will as long as it's a steaming pile of Poo on Android. I'm not shelling out $450+ bucks for a Windows Phone to rebuy apps/games and run ONE app properly in the background, when the alternatives do it flawlessly for the device I do have.

Lastly, there is no interoperability with those other services in the Skype for Android application. No WLM (and by extension, Yahoo! Messenger) IM (and Microsoft has yet to release an Android WLM client, yet they have for iOS). No Facebook Chat.

Yahoo! Messenger with its Voice and Video Calling capabilities (and free SMS out) is looking like a winner compared to Skype/WLM across Desktop and Mobile form-factors.

I am seriously considering Yahoo! now, especially since my GS2 Skyrocket can PUSH all the PIM functions to my phone for free, including PUSHing the IM. The fact that Yahoo! Messenger for Android can do Facebook Chat and of course you can add WLM users to your Buddy list makes it the brain dead successor to WLM, IMO.

And it doesn't pop up when I make a phone call asking to be my dialer app. I like that.

Kr4177 — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:06:26 GMT

I use WLM with my autistic son every night so that he can talk to his grandparents each night, he can talk, write, and play games such as bowling. It is an integral part of day. He was devastated when Microsoft scrapped the drawing program. I can't imagine how devastated he will be when he learns he is restricted to Skype which has no games. Can you please tell me who I can write to, who I can lobby to change this decision or to upgrade Skype so it has these features too? Please, please please help him. I am sure he is not the only autistic kid who relies so heavily on this program.

Gavin Ding — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 20:41:44 GMT

My concern is that the Windows Live Messenger updates for mainland China.