After an excruciating 2 years, Microsoft-owned Skype announced today a brand new version of its VoIP client. Until now, the Linux Skype client was lagging way behind its counter-parts on other platforms. But today’s update brings in many features of Skype that were already present in other platforms.
If you’ve used Skype on Linux, you’ll know that the client on the operating system was not just missing features, it was unstable and unreliable, too. Adding all this up, the update announced today will surely be much appreciated by the community.
The update announced today is in fact a WebRTC version of the popular networking platform. It brings in a much more responsive and reliable interface coupled with almost all of the most wanted features of Skype. We get file-sharing, compatibility with a broader range of emoticons and a lot more.
WebRTC, in essence, is an open-source initiative that lets users communicate in real-time through both voice and video by using a Real-Time Communications (RTC) compatible browser. This means we do not need to install any plugins.
Skype for Linux Alpha is not a fully functioning Skype client yet.
the company warns in a statement.
We’re sharing it with you now, as we want to get it in your hands as soon as possible.
You can get the Skype for Linux alpha version here. It is compatible with Skype on other platforms as well, including Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.
Chromebook users also get Skype!
Skype has also announced that a new web-compliant version of its app for Chromebook users will now be available for download. The previous version of Skype for Chromebooks was limited to messaging, but now with the alpha version, it will be possible to place voice and video calls too.
Chromebook or Chrome on Linux can now visit web.skype.com and make voice calls. Unfortunately, video and calls to any platform won’t yet work.
