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Skype Delivers Major Mac Desktop Upgrade

Skype for us is so much about mobile that we sometimes forget its enduring relevance on the desktop. But Skype hasn’t and on Thursday the internet telephony delivered a major upgrade for Macs which includes group video chats, offline instant messaging, a more browser-like interface and — cover flow? Mac Beta 5.0 mimics the features […]

Skype for us is so much about mobile that we sometimes forget its enduring relevance on the desktop. But Skype hasn't and on Thursday the internet telephony delivered a major upgrade for Macs which includes group video chats, offline instant messaging, a more browser-like interface and -- cover flow?

Mac Beta 5.0 mimics the features of Windows version 5.0, which was released earlier this year and is a considerably more finished interface. Novice users to whom I have introduced Skype on the desktop sometimes got confused about the tiny icons for calling and sending IMs. There is much less chance of that being the case now.

The video conference chat is likely to be the biggest appeal of the upgrade. It's a boon not only for far-flung contacts but even proximate callers -- anyone who has shared a screen (or been forced to watch others sharing a screen) knows that isn't optimal.

But ... cover flow? This overused concept really has no place in a contact directory. We don't browse for someone who we may want to call, like some kind of "talk to me" roulette. We only need a quick way to find a contact who we need to call. And because of the size of Skype contact images they all look stretched and pixelated. Check out the image above of Gadget Lab colleague Charlie Sorrel's unfortunate avatar.

Fortunately, flow not the default view. But don't bother to fiddle with that, Skype. Just got on with video calling for mobile instead.

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