Jamie's Random Musings
Various thoughts and adventures, including but not limited to Video IM, Linux, Windows XP and Widows Vista, and various bits of hardware new and old.
Monday 14 July 2008, 7:21 AM
Skype 4.0 Beta Updated
At the same time, they have changed the download page for their current (non-beta) version, apparently trying to make it look like their redesigned (mangled) Community pages. The changes have two significant effects:
- It no longer shows the current version number. This makes it easier for them to hide the fact that the current version (3.8) has apparently been abandoned by development in favor of the reviled 4.0 version.
- The links to other versions have been removed. This makes it extremely difficult to find and download a version for an operating system other than the one you are currently running.
I would guess that the objective of these changes to the web page were the same as for the change from the Skype User Forum to the Skype Community - reduce the number of people who use those pages. They will probably be declaring success on this in the near future, for good reason - the new download pages are truly miserable.
Good work, Skype, keep "listening". You are truly living up to your slogan: "Take a Deep Breath - This Is Going To Hurt".
jw 14/7/2008
PreviousComments on this post
Thank you Jamie for letting us know that the 4.0 beta upgrade is no different than the first release it save me putting such a bloated load of rubbish on my PC. I totally refuse to put any version of 4.0 on my PC until they do something with it's look and as they don't listen to what people say it looks like I will be using 3.8.0.139 for a long time to come.
I am convinced that Skype now do not take any notice at all of what people say about there products unless the comments are from people saying it is the best thing since sliced bread, you only have to look at other blogs about Skype to see this happening, at least here on ZDNet you can say what you think of a product provided it is the truth and the comments you are making a also legal.
