Frankfurt — eBay’s web phone division Skype, on Wednesday started a public testing of VoIP software’s latest version for making free or low-cost phone calls that intends to encourage casual video chatting more common.
It has been a long time since Skype has received a major, often-demanded upgrade: Skype 4.0. President Josh Silverman calls it the “biggest new release in Skype’s history.” The company will issue the first of several planned version 4.0 beta builds (for Windows only) that are anticipated to drop over the next few months.
Silverman says: “Our previous interface was built especially for voice, but now it was time to evolve Skype’s user interface.” Now by turning into a full-screen, the enhanced capability can be spread out and made much simpler.
The service initially commenced by offering free audio calls but has gradually added many kinds of communication, like video calls, file-sharing, and text chats. The main purpose of the upgrade, he said, is to bring all those modes together and make it easier to switch between them in a single conversation.
The biggest modifications to come with Skype 4.0 beta is making it easy to initiate a video conferencing call. For the first time, the program contains complete prompts for running sound and Webcam checks within the program set-up. Although Skype says that 28 percent of the calls on its service include live video, adding a face-to-face component to a call has typically been a difficult task that involves hunting around for a small camera icon after an audio link between Skype users has already been established.
But after two failed tests, Skype 4.0, thankfully, puts large “call” and a big green “video call” buttons next to every user’s name. Also, there is picture-in-picture functionality, and users can move the thumbnail around that shows your video. Skype recommends hardware — like headsets and a Webcam — to reverse incompatibility errors.
“If I were to sum it all up, that is what 4.0 is all about: the next leap forward in integrated communications,” he said.
The service is expanding like a wild flower, with 309 million registered users. It generated revenue of $126 million in the first quarter of the year, exceeding what eBay and PayPal earned at similar age.
Skype 4.0 beta’s redeveloped user interface may also get you blinking. The peer-to-peer technology promises good quality video, and there is lot more space available for text chatting or sending files while the conversation is going.
To wit, there is an IM bar deposited at the bottom of the communications pane, when you do a video chat, it really has the feeling of being in a video chat room. Furthermore, you can also add videos from Metacafe and DailyMotion (but not from YouTube).
Although Skype, at present can only handle up to 25 users on the same call with voice, it is only limited to single video chats at this point. However, those can be combined with multi-party voice and text chats where everyone else just hears the audio. In comparison, Paltalk can do thousands of simultaneous video chats in a similar room-like environment.
Skype’s latest version also includes history of present and past chats next to each name in a person’s Skype directory, so the program no longer spawns new windows on a person’s computer every time a new call comes in. It also makes it easier to make full search and see records of previous communications.
Skype’s sometimes-controversial VoIP application is designed on bandwidth-sharing technology that lends computer processing power to users with less bandwidth from users with spare capacity. This has advantages for improving video call-quality that conventional landline or mobile networks lack.
Michael Bartlett, director of Skype product management for Windows, said Skype engineers have developed data-compression technology that allows rich-quality voice conversations with as little as 2 kilobits per second of bandwidth and video calls on connections as slow as 6 kb/s.
Version 4.0 takes advantage of faster average speeds — now typically 256 kb/s or better, he said. For high-resolution, full-screen Skype video calls, 90 Kb/s is ideal, he added.
Skype will post further details on its blog later on Wednesday at share.skype.com/sites/en/. Windows PC users wishing to test Skype 4.0 may then download it here