Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Are the folks at Skype out of their mind?

I sincerely believe that the folks at Skype have gone out of their mind. Just look at the successive bad moves which resulted in users not able to use Skype anymore on at least two platforms: Windows Phone and Android. Skype for Windows Phone was decommissioned sometime back. Skype issued a statement at that time saying that the app did not offer the best user experience. Imagine Microsoft or Google adopting a similar practice with their software. At the same time, they failed to announce an upgrade. Windows Phone users are still in the dark. Those who already had Skype installed on their devices can still enjoy free internet calls. So, that was the first bad move from Skype.

The latest move involves a conflict with Fring. The latter is installed on my Nexus One and for some reason, Skype is not available anymore through Fring. Since Skype has never really offered an application for Android, there are no alternatives. According to Skype statement, "Fring is breaching our API Terms of Use and End User Agreement". I'm not sure whether to blame Fring or Skype but one thing I know is that Skype, once again, is showing that they do not care about users. As Avi Shechter, Fring's co-Founder and CEO wrote: "We are disappointed that Skype, who once championed the cause of openness, is now attempting to muzzle competition, even to the detriment of its own users".

Thumbs down Skype.

No comments:

Post a Comment