Reaching for gold
By
Berkus on September 2, 2006 in Development.
I haven’t updated the blog for a while. Autumn started here a bit ahead of time. I was helping our new developer to feel at home. And Skype development is going so fast now I don’t know where to start.
We’re heading to gold release. There are several essential problems that are holding us back. There are less than 5 of them tho, so we’re in rather good shape. Andy started his acquaintance with the code by fixing some minor nuisances, that make UI feel broken here and there, and overall disrupt comfortable work with Skype.
The non-UI side has experienced some improvement, too. We now have a better-faster buildbox and our closed beta testers receive builds for full range of supported distros at once. I plan to set up a nightly build script so that we can benefit from some more automation out there.
The global news are that we have hit 7 million users online simultaneously. And many more of them are now Linux Skype users 
Oh, and a recent poll of Linux users have shown us three most often requested features, they are:
1. Video
1. Video
1. Video
We’re doing our best to implement it, but I think it is not going to be included in 1.3 series, so stop asking, cross fingers, and wait for 1.4 release 
Comments
and what about sms and skypecasts?
just to start the resync process..
asca_edom | Monday, Sep 4
I agree. I use SMS more than Video.
I would also imagine that it is easier to implement than video.
cello_brax | Monday, Sep 4
i ask for an implementation of the support with the call s at other skype user.
For example, in my ubuntu as soon as installed, when i call my brother in denmark, he listen his voice when he talk and says me to switch in windows xp, but i don't wont do it!!!
fabioamd87 | Monday, Sep 4
I think solve some API can't be used best
steprun | Wednesday, Sep 6
How about separating the codebase to two components - backend and UI and exposing a neat API between the two. I'm quite sure that all of the patents/proprietary stuff that Skype wants to keep secret will be kept cleanly within the backend. This would leave room for open source development on the UI and allow people like myself to develop a GTK frontend for Skype. It would also free up more resources to work on more important functionality on the backend, like video, SMS, sound, and a host of other issues that need attending to.
shakhshir | Friday, Sep 8
How about having a version that actually works, to begin with? Outgoing audio simply never worked, with the Stable release or the Beta release. Yet, outgoing audio works fine with Ekiga and Linphone.
perkelix | Friday, Sep 22
It's good to see that the whole OSS thing has been fixed but the current ALSA implementation is still useless to me i'm afraid...
I, like a lot of people, use a webcam for sound input and a soundcard for output. Skype asks me which *ONE* device I want to use for calls when in fact I need two. I don't input into my soundcard, and obviously my webcam can't play back sound.
codem0nkey | Sunday, Sep 24
Video support is most definitely wanted for Linux. List of webcams to be supported would be definitely handy.
vkotal | Saturday, Sep 30
Nice to see things finally rolling and to see that Skype is actually listening to us Linux users. As per the GTK+ issue, that's so minor, we shouldn't really care. Heck, the GTK+ interface is bloated and not really needed. Skype works fine without GTK+ option in it. QT is doing a superb job at keeping Skype together.
As per the video, I shall await for 1.4. I recommend Skype for Linux developer team to look at Video4Linux v1 and especially v2. These libraries are the ones that bring webcams possible on Linux.
canadian.penguin | Thursday, Oct 5
My Logitech QuickCam IM works perfectly with Debian Etch on my NC6000 Laptop in camorama. Skype 1.3.0.53 works perfectly also. I cant wait for 1.4 to see them work together. I have seen linux come a long way over many years. Its wonderful to see all this progress!
miky207 | Tuesday, Nov 14
Yes I agree - video and SMS is what i miss in Skype for linux. It is pain in the ass to boot into Windows each time I want to use video.....
adoshi1414 | Thursday, Jan 25
I've tried aMSN which is providing Webcam(which not very complete) function, although is lacking of sound. If skype can provide better webcam function in Linux, I think is time to ditch my MSN & Yahoo! & Windows and Rock Linux!
leekingkongsg | Thursday, May 3
With all the requests for video support in the next version, here's my 2 cents worth... I use a dv camera connected by firewire as a webcam. It uses /dev/raw1394 and works fine in ekiga. I'd love support for this setup in skype. Thanks.
hughmackell | Sunday, Jun 3
It seems we have version 1.4 for Linux and still no video. Wengaphone managed video some time ago for Linux. I'm trying to encourage friends to use it with some success (and calls on Wegaphone are half the cost of Skype), so too bad for Skype as they will lose custom by continuing to disapoint.
robertkent | Monday, Jun 18
Well I see 1.4 alpha version is out but no webcamera again...so is Skype going nowhere?
jar_car2 | Friday, Jul 6
linux for everyone free for life!
so developer pls consider make the same feature with windows app
thank for your support! penny will still feed ur mouth ^^
cheers
Dinox Cheah
dinox_cheah | Friday, Jan 11