Do you use Skype?

[Harold Mansfield]

I keep trying to like it, and I just can't. I hate logging in because I immediately get spam messages. I still don't feel like it's user friendly, and it's just not as smooth as Go To Meeting.

I know a lot of business people use it, especially when working in teams, but it just makes me sad to use.

Am I alone?

[vangogh]

I think every time I used it, you were on the other end of the call.

Skype is still the recommended service when it comes to podcasting. I've heard many podcasters complain about it, but they still prefer it to anything else. It's one of those apps/services that people always complain about, but still seem to use.

[Owen]

People still use Skype? I moved on from that a while ago. I use Discord and Slack. Discord is marketed towards gamers but is awesome for businesses because it mainly uses voice versus slack which is text based.

[Harold Mansfield]

The catch 22 is that a lot of people use Skype and if you're on a podcast or get a chance to do any interviews, it's what the production people on the other end want you to use. So there's really no way around it. It just kind of sucks.

[vangogh]

From what I've heard Skype is still the most dependable service for audio. It's possible it's less to do with the quality of the service and more some API that makes it easier to record from Skype, but several podcasters I listen to have said they've tried other services and Skype still works the best. I wouldn't use it for messaging though. Slack is probably the best option for business type messaging now.

[WarrenD]

I do a lot of video calls where I have to share my screen and other people share theirs with me. For this I prefer Google hangouts as it's convenient - until recently you needed an app to use Skype whereas with hangouts you could just log in to any machine and start using. But I'm forced to use Skype occasionally as some of my clients use it and they don't want to switch to hangouts!

[SumpinSpecial]

The one time I found it very cool was when I had to have a phone conversation with a lady in Europe and neither one of us could afford the long distance call, or didn't know how to dial international or something. (At the time I almost never called internationally, so didn't know if it cost more or how to do it. She also seemed reluctant to call directly.)

We use Windows in my day job and they recently downgraded (IMO) to Win10, which means Lync turned into Skype. We use it a lot for internal IM'ing, and the more intrepid coworkers share their screens. But I'm hating everything about Win10 so far, so I use everything as little as possible while getting my job done.

(I have a Mac at home, with an old version of MS Office.)

[Owen]

recently downgraded (IMO) to Win10
What's wrong with Windows 7 but prettier?

[SumpinSpecial]

For a personal computer it would be fine. But in my corporate day job, it's stupid to have Cortana and the Microsoft store so thoroughly integrated into the system that IT guys can't remove them. There is a "store" button in the Outlook ribbon, for example. Also every time I open an Office document now, it takes about 30 seconds to authenticate me with Microsoft before it actually gives me access to my document. Those are Office 365 issues, but coming back to Windows, I'm at work: I don't need Cortana offering to find new movies for me. The thing that used to be the Start menu is now a popup version of a Surface (or iPad) screen with huge tiles labelled with various things you can access. Including Groove Music, "Movies and TV" and "News".

It's a one-size-fits-all solution that is ridiculous.

[Owen]

For a personal computer it would be fine. But in my corporate day job, it's stupid to have Cortana and the Microsoft store so thoroughly integrated into the system that IT guys can't remove them. There is a "store" button in the Outlook ribbon, for example. Also every time I open an Office document now, it takes about 30 seconds to authenticate me with Microsoft before it actually gives me access to my document. Those are Office 365 issues, but coming back to Windows, I'm at work: I don't need Cortana offering to find new movies for me. The thing that used to be the Start menu is now a popup version of a Surface (or iPad) screen with huge tiles labelled with various things you can access. Including Groove Music, "Movies and TV" and "News".

It's a one-size-fits-all solution that is ridiculous.
They offer Windows 10 Professional which doesn't have a lot of what you're talking about. It's for, you know, work.

[Gravity]

I use skype and goto meeting.

Skype is for random business associates and goto is for actual meetings.

[MariDari]

not that much though, cuz we have lot of other options and for me personally skype is not the most convenient way for contacting

[AmandaKess]

I use Skype pretty often (as well as Discord and Slack t lesser degrees) and I honestly don't get all of the complaints around the software. It's not perfect, but in my near decade of usage I've had almost no issues with it.

[Dwayne]

I stoped using it few years ago, there are many other apps better that Skype

[LootServices]

I use discord more for business but skype I use as an option. Skype is way behind Discord in my opinion.