2008-06-18

The new version and numbers

Don’t download the new 4.0 Skype beta version (i will not post the link) unless you are an experienced user, because there are some vital functions missing, see here in the release notes.

What I can’t miss is, and it is temporarily (i hope) missing in this version are (between others):
  • Ability to turn alerts off
  • History
  • Contact groups
The new version installation file is is 24.7 Mbyte big, compared to the 21.3 Mbyte of the previous 3.8 version.

What pisses me off, and this is not related to the new version, is that Josh Silverman, CEO of Skype, says in a video where he promotes the new version: “To our community of over 300 million users all around the world, thank you very much for your passion”.

Stop the bullshit marketing talk Josh! You DON’T have 300 million users, you have perhaps 35 million users, that is a big difference, see also my very recent blog post here. Shame on you!

3 comments:

Vincent said...

Come on, 4.0 is not such a dangerous thing that it deserves a big red don't download warning. Why so much hate?

About the missing features, yes it's an incomplete beta, but 2 of your missing ones are there, just not implemented in the UI yet:
* Ability to turn alerts off: It can be done by typing /alertsoff in the chat window, try it, works very well
* History: Quick-filter will find old chats (type something in the conversation filter window and it will search for old chat topics, even if they are not in the conversation list).

Anonymous said...

I was a fan of your site but this last post has caused me to take you off my bookmarks. The bad language is so unprofessional. Goodbye.

Jean Mercier said...

@ Vincent:
No hatred Vincent, and i said that "unless you are an experienced user" you should not use the beta version. I love Skype, you know that, otherwise i would not blog. But i dare to say what i think. I am not the only one to say that you should be cautious with this beta version.

@ anonymous:
I agree my language is sometimes harsh. Blogging isn't my profession, therefore highly unprofessional indeed. I express with emotion my feelings about the repeated lies concerning the number of Skype Users. Repeating lies is highly unprofessional from people whose profession it is to make Skype greater than it is already.