Angus Kidman01 October 2008, 9:45 AM
Skype has been forced to revise its 4.0 beta release after outraged users bombarded it with criticisms of the screen-hogging and unintuitive design.
The first
beta version of Skype 4.0, released in June, sported a radical change to its interface. It switched from the customary small screen list of contacts found in most chat applications to a full-screen experience designed to make it easier to hold video calls and manage multiple conversations.
Skype officials now admit that the radical change proved unpopular with much of its user base. "One of the most common comments that we had back from the user community was that they missed the small version of Skype," said Chris Lewis, head of business development and marketing for Skype Asia-Pacific. "A lot of people missed the small window, they weren't looking for the whole browser-like experience."
Skype has belatedly responded to those criticisms, adding a 'compact view' which breaks chats out into separate windows in the manner of earlier versions in a new beta version released this week. It has also added pop-up notifications in the taskbar, responding to complaints that individual messages could be easily missed in the all-in-one Skype window.
Despite the outcry, Lewis said there was no chance of Skype reverting back to the original interface. "Fundamental change is not one of those things you want to do every year. This is the new platform and something we won't be changing very quickly, I can assure you."
"It's essentially to make it easier to use for our users. A large percentage of our users are not power users, and a lot of people do need guidance and support to actually start using Skype. Maybe that's a bit annoying for some power users, but it's better for the vast majority." Video calls accounted for 25% of calls made in the new version.
So far, Skype 4.0 is being regularly used by 350,000 people each day, Lewis said. While a large-scale beta by most standards, that represents less than 1% of Skype's registered user base of over 300 million people.
Skype has not yet committed to a final release date for Skype 4.0. Once the Windows code is finalised, the code will be ported to other platforms such as Mac OS X, Lewis said. "There are many more of these features to come. 4.0 is not finished, it's still a beta product."
Download the beta.