Great
news for Skype users who use Lync at work but love Skype anyway! Microsoft is
finally killing off Lync.
However,
it’s not a total homicide; Microsoft will merge the easy to use features of
Skype with Lync and thus rebrand Lync as Skype for Business in the First
Quarter of 2015 as stated in the article “Microsoft
kills Lync name in favor of Skype for Business”, published Nov 11, 2014
6:00 AM by Mark Hachman, PC World.
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Skype
for Business will have your Lync features in a Skype-like interface that you’ve
come to known and love. Good to note I’d predicted this back in November 2012
around the same time news had trickled out that Skype was set to replace
Messenger as noted in my blog article
entitled “Microsoft
replacing Messenger with Skype by First Quarter of 2013AD - A Solid Pitch
Perfect (2012) Tablet and Smartphone Ecosystem for the Corporate Road Warriors”.
Sky
is and still remains one of Microsoft’s best acquisitions to date. Its
replacement of Messenger in 2013 and now Lync in 2015 proves its worth.
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Now
it’s got yet another surprise up its sleeve; it’s coming to the Browser in the
form of Skype for Web Beta as stated in “Microsoft
starts rolling out Skype for Web beta”, published November 14, 2014 --
15:01 GMT (07:01 PST), by Mary Jo Foley, ZDNET.
Skype replaces Lync –
Skype for Web Beta rolls out allowing Google Chromebooks to use Skype
Microsoft
has now adopted the ORTC
API for Web RTC (Real Time Communications) Protocol, the HTML support for
VoIP Communications on the Internet, allowing Skype to be used without the need
to download a plugin as announced in a Blog post on their Skype blog entitled “Bringing
Interoperable Real-Time Communications to the Web”, published 10/27/2014 by
Garage & Updates by Senthil Velayutham, Skype
Blog.
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Skype
for Web Beta differs slightly from the update in March 2014 to the Skype
Plugin that allowed you to initiate a Skype call from within your Chrome
Browser as described in my blog article
entitled “Skype-ing
from your Browser now possible as WhatsApp conspires to kill International
Calling”.
Skype
for Web Beta, with the adoption of ORTC API for Web RTC (Real
Time Communications) Protocol, eliminates the need for annoying downloads
of their cumbersome Plugin. Instead, it'll be baked into your favorite Browser,
be it Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome of Microsoft's own Internet Explorer.
You'll just go to a Web interface for Skype just like you currently do for Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft OneDrive, login and
start skyping.
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Chromebook
users must also rejoice, as it's a final solution for them living without
Skype. In fact, it might be one more reason to get a Google Chromebook, now on
their way to triple their less than 1% of the PC market come 2017 as stated in my
blog article
entitled “Chromebooks
Sales to Triple by 2017 – How Rapid Sales Heaven for PC Makers means Apple iPad
and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 under attack”.
I'm
pretty excited about Skype
for Web Beta and I’m especially excited by the idea that you'll be able to
make Group Calls for free in your Browser, a feature Skype had rolled out in
April 2014 as explained in my blog article
entitled ”How
to make a Free Group Call in Skype – Google+ officially a Ghost Town Again as
Microsoft gears up for WhatsApp free VoIP Calling in June 2014”.
Here's
the link:
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