April 2008

Production version of Skype 3.8 for Windows now available

Start downloading it now.

With Skype 3.8 open beta we introduced some cool features and possibilities. Most importantly, we resolved many problems that you’ve told us about.

I would like to thank everyone who has taken their time and given us a piece of their mind. You are welcome to continue discussing Skype 3.8 on our forums or post problem reports on our public issue tracker Jira.

The newly released build 3.8.0.115 brings you the following changes:

• change: Updated Extras manager to version 2.0.0.55
• change: Firefox plugin updated to version 2.2.0.80
• change: Internet Explorer plugin updated to version 2.2.0.176
• bugfix: Account creation without a valid email address was not communicated correctly
• bugfix: Skype occasionally crashed on startup when some specific sound cards were set as windows default
• bugfix: Skype did not always go to “Away” and “Not Available” status automatically
• bugfix: After locking the screen, video froze or went blank
• bugfix: When user was not able to connect he was forwarded to wrong webpage
• bugfix: Windows Vista screensaver was not disabled during video call
• bugfix: Any link containing “+” was not clickable in a chat
• bugfix: Skype crashed when set web cookies got damaged
• bugfix: Video resolution did not scale up correctly in some instances
• bugfix API: App2App transfers were disabled when File Transfer was disabled
• All localizations updated

With Skype 3.8 for Windows beta we have made our own UPnP implementation which is no longer dependent on Microsoft UPnP framework.

UPnP is an industry-wide protocol designed for automatic device configuration. Its main purpose is to provide seamless “just works” experience when a new device is connected to network.

Most major consumer router vendors are using UPnP in their devices. Skype uses UPnP to configure the firewall for best possible call quality.

Since Skype version 3.0 Skype has relied on Microsoft UPnP Framework to configure devices. However there are a few concerns if UPnP Framework is used in conjuction with Internet Connection Sharing as described in Microsoft knowledge base article 886257. Due these issues Skype provided opt-in check box under advanced connection options.

Skype for Windows version 3.8 has new UPnP implementation which does not depend on Microsoft UPnP Framework anymore and hence issues outlined in Microsoft KB article do not apply anymore. Along with that change “Allow Skype to modify my firewall settings” checkbox has been removed. Since Skype for Windows version 3.8 the UPnP is enabled by default.

New UPnP implementation is already available on Skype 2.0.0.68 for Linux and will come to Mac users soon.

People who are concerned with overall UPnP security should disable UPnP on their firewall device. For assistance see your firewall manual.

We are proud to present the beta version of Skype 3.8 for Windows. This new version brings to you mainly quality improvements and slightly reduced installer size.

This is beta software, which means that we are still working on it. So it may not always behave as it should.

Download and try it out.

In case you see anything which is not behaving as you’d expect then please let us know in the forum for Skype 3.8 beta or report an issue in our public issue tracker Jira.

We are very thankful for all kinds of feedback.

Major changes in this version are new implementation of UPnP, improved audio engine and the new Extras Manager. In addition to these new things we have fixed numerous video-related bugs.

Read more about our new independent UPnP implementation here.

There is also one known issue in this beta version: you cannot send voicemail to people who have not authorized you. We are working on fixing this in time for the public version.

Full list of changes for 3.8.0.96:

• known issue: Sending Voicemail to not authorized user fails
• feature: New UPnP implementation
• feature: Extras Manager 2.0
• feature: Profile picture hidden by default on authorization request
• Improvement: Audio call quality
• Improvement: Internet Explorer add-on updated
• Improvement: Firefox add-on updated
• Improvement: Skype4COM updated
• change: Default video resolution for Pentium 3 and slower computers is 160x120 pixels
• bugfix privacy leak: Moodmessage and online status exposure to web browser via internal interface
• bugfix: Rarely contacts were lost after upgrade
• bugfix: Public chat links did not work on Vista
• bugfix: My video was froze on video call for some users
• bugfix: Call went to Voicemail even if not selected it in options
• bugfix: Sometimes video was black for receiver
• bugfix: Sometimes video preview was frozen
• bugfix: High Quality Video was not possible with Core2Duo E8200 CPU
• bugfix: Users who have not logged in for long time were not found with search
• bugfix: Skype sometimes crashed during file transfer
• bugfix API: It was not possible to forward call if username had a comma in it