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When the product began to display connection status at launch, it was a welcome update but it made me wonder why the recent decision to add this to the UI. If t

When the product began to display connection status at launch, it was a welcome update but it made me wonder why the recent decision to add this to the UI. If things are moving along smoothly, there doesn't tend to be a need to add gauges and indicators to your instrumentation. What is most likely are some backend issues after some migration or update was leading to a lot of inconsistent messaging problems. Adding connection status was a sanity check for troubleshooting these issues. It was one of those improvements that helped explain why things seemed to be a bit flaky recently. There is a lot of competition in this space and I sort of feel that Skype was a Windows Phone play that didn't pan out for MS after the Windows Phone failed (along side the Nokia deal). Unfortunately for the London office, the product heads are not really sure how to right this ship. Hopefully everyone lands gracefully, whatever happens with the product.

WorldMaker 10y ago
Also an outsider, looking in, but I get the feeling it was more the opposite, Microsoft bought Skype for its brand first, users second, and left alone as a fiefdom to itself. I think Windows mobile efforts (phone) have actually been part of the kick (along with external pressure from Slack, HipChat, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, et al) to finally unify efforts, beyond just unifying brands.
- btreesOfSpring 10y ago
  The contrary perspective is appreciated. My outside take was the MS acquired Skype for the reasons you mention and in addition they also thought they had a VoiP solution that would be the killer app for Windows Phone. Then that ran into the obvious telecom incumbent push back that Apple and the iPhone seemed to navigate with such ease. MS arrogantly disregarded the telecoms positioning in this time period period since the telecoms were going to lose their voice revenue before having worked out mobile IP pricing and caps. The telecoms didn't want a voice service competition. So then Windows Phone was without its killer app and everything started to atrophy (Windows Phone/Skype/Nokia).
  - WorldMaker 10y ago
    From what I saw, I felt like Microsoft bought Skype well before its modern Windows Phone plans quite started to take shape and that Microsoft didn't have much of an idea what to do with Skype other than Ebay was selling it and Microsoft preferred to own it than let it go to a competitor. (Thus far seems to be just about the only reason they recently bought LinkedIn, too. It was for sale and they didn't want it going to a competitor.) At the time of the Skype purchase it seemed that Microsoft was still trying to salvage what it could of MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger/Live Messenger/some other Brand of the Day which was leaking users like a sieve and meanwhile was fighting an internal fiefdom war with Lync, which was executing faster and smarter. Basically, insert classic XKCD org chart diagram here of Microsoft being in a Mexican standoff with itself, especially at that time. From that perspective, (and also one of being a Windows Phone 8 and now 10 owner), I don't think Skype was bought for Windows Phone and I don't think Skype is part of why Windows Phone is currently seeming rather atrophied. Instead, I think its Windows Phone where we've seen some of the hardest fought "battles" in the "One Microsoft" movement to de-escalate the old "mexican standoff" at Microsoft. (Which makes sense in a strange way: Microsoft couldn't afford as many "casualties" on the desktop or in the enterprise, so phone/mobile has been the proxy war.) I think wanting a VoIP competitor to Apple's Facetime efforts was a part of the overall agenda for at least one of the messaging teams. But in terms of a lot of the shifts in branding choices and app approaches, I think a lot more of what we have seen in Windows Phone has been Microsoft's most externally visible battlefield where it has been trying to figure how best to merge all of its messaging and communications teams and destroy the old fiefdoms and silos (and guns pointed at each others heads). (All while marketing tries to fight from accidentally burning down a brand along with some of the bridges...) Windows Phone was just a useful catalyst (battlefield) to force that confrontation, without impacting the desktop too much. That's essentially what this announcement seems to be about to me: the crashing down of another silo as Microsoft truly starts to consolidate its many communications apps.
    - horatiumocian 10y ago
      Just a small correction: Microsoft bought Skype from Silver Lake / Andreessen Horowitz, not EBay. At the time Microsoft bought it, Skype seemed to prepare for an IPO, although I'm not sure how willing they were to go through with it.
tomc1985 10y ago
Some of us want to see what it is doing!

WorldMaker 10y ago

Also an outsider, looking in, but I get the feeling it was more the opposite, Microsoft bought Skype for its brand first, users second, and left alone as a fiefdom to itself. I think Windows mobile efforts (phone) have actually been part of the kick (along with external pressure from Slack, HipChat, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, et al) to finally unify efforts, beyond just unifying brands.

btreesOfSpring 10y ago
The contrary perspective is appreciated. My outside take was the MS acquired Skype for the reasons you mention and in addition they also thought they had a VoiP solution that would be the killer app for Windows Phone. Then that ran into the obvious telecom incumbent push back that Apple and the iPhone seemed to navigate with such ease. MS arrogantly disregarded the telecoms positioning in this time period period since the telecoms were going to lose their voice revenue before having worked out mobile IP pricing and caps. The telecoms didn't want a voice service competition. So then Windows Phone was without its killer app and everything started to atrophy (Windows Phone/Skype/Nokia).
- WorldMaker 10y ago
  From what I saw, I felt like Microsoft bought Skype well before its modern Windows Phone plans quite started to take shape and that Microsoft didn't have much of an idea what to do with Skype other than Ebay was selling it and Microsoft preferred to own it than let it go to a competitor. (Thus far seems to be just about the only reason they recently bought LinkedIn, too. It was for sale and they didn't want it going to a competitor.) At the time of the Skype purchase it seemed that Microsoft was still trying to salvage what it could of MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger/Live Messenger/some other Brand of the Day which was leaking users like a sieve and meanwhile was fighting an internal fiefdom war with Lync, which was executing faster and smarter. Basically, insert classic XKCD org chart diagram here of Microsoft being in a Mexican standoff with itself, especially at that time. From that perspective, (and also one of being a Windows Phone 8 and now 10 owner), I don't think Skype was bought for Windows Phone and I don't think Skype is part of why Windows Phone is currently seeming rather atrophied. Instead, I think its Windows Phone where we've seen some of the hardest fought "battles" in the "One Microsoft" movement to de-escalate the old "mexican standoff" at Microsoft. (Which makes sense in a strange way: Microsoft couldn't afford as many "casualties" on the desktop or in the enterprise, so phone/mobile has been the proxy war.) I think wanting a VoIP competitor to Apple's Facetime efforts was a part of the overall agenda for at least one of the messaging teams. But in terms of a lot of the shifts in branding choices and app approaches, I think a lot more of what we have seen in Windows Phone has been Microsoft's most externally visible battlefield where it has been trying to figure how best to merge all of its messaging and communications teams and destroy the old fiefdoms and silos (and guns pointed at each others heads). (All while marketing tries to fight from accidentally burning down a brand along with some of the bridges...) Windows Phone was just a useful catalyst (battlefield) to force that confrontation, without impacting the desktop too much. That's essentially what this announcement seems to be about to me: the crashing down of another silo as Microsoft truly starts to consolidate its many communications apps.
  - horatiumocian 10y ago
    Just a small correction: Microsoft bought Skype from Silver Lake / Andreessen Horowitz, not EBay. At the time Microsoft bought it, Skype seemed to prepare for an IPO, although I'm not sure how willing they were to go through with it.

tomc1985 10y ago

Some of us want to see what it is doing!