The Skype 2.0 Beta is out, and you can download it here. According to the press release, the new features are:
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Skype Video – Although I have a long standing opinion that most people don’t use video once they’ve tried it (look – Grandpa has a nice forehead today, doesn’t he?), this is a big change from previous versions.
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Simplified user interface – it is prettier. I’ll give you that.
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Self-expression – Great for the teeny-boppers, I guess.
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Personalization – avatars and ringtones. Hasn’t this been part of the last few releases?
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See your contacts’ time zones – Again, hasn’t this been in a number of releases prior?
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Group your contacts – useful, and it’s about time.
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Real-time contact search – again, useful, and it’s about time.
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Skype toolbar for Microsoft Outlook – hasn’t this been part of prior releases?
Skype Journal has a more complete changelog. There are some new APIs as well.
Am I missing something? This feels like a 1.x release, not a 2.0.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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Check out the discussion of Ringtones at Skype Journal. They seem to have gone backward on that one; I have a comment there. This is an example of where it is hoped that eBay can bring some (Product) Management 101 experience.
And, yes, Skype for Outlook Toolbar was released October 20 with no subsequent upgrade; as mentioned in my review on SJ, it is still a tool that passes the Jeff Sandquist seven day test.