Skype. It used to actually be a pretty capable app for making/receiving calls and instant messaging. Version 2.8 was pretty solid. That was right before they started messing it up.

Remember v2.8? It has the little unobtrusive contact list. It behaved like an instant messenger, but it also made phone calls. It just worked.

Then Version 5 came out. They went for this "full screen" UI with an attached contact list. You now see that same design throughout the (awful) mobile apps. Skype has basically just become bloated and heavy.

I'm actually still using v2.8 and refuse to update. But I'm stuck with the terrible mobile apps.

This leads me to my question: today, with their app spread across so many platforms, how can they fix it?

They should just bring back v2.8 like functionality for desktops and laptops, period. Although v6 is moving in the old direction, its still too demanding of my attention and screen estate, till they don't fix that I am sticking with v2.8.

Unfortunately tablet fever has them thinking that I want Skype to take over my entire screen on the laptop too. The way I use Skype on different devices is different. On tablets and phones, its video/audio chats and due to the devices form factor the app needs to be in the foreground. On laptops its mostly written/audio chats with Skype is running in the background while I am doing some work. Only occasional video chats, with family and friends, which mostly happen on the iPad/iPhone anyways.

The iPad app is awful too. You can't "clear all notifications." I have all these old conversations running down the sidebar with an "unread" notification even though those are conversations that were had on a desktop.

I was also on a call on the iPad and there was no way to mute the microphone. I guess it's a bug because I've seen the mute button before. But that was certainly a pain in the butt.

hmmm. Now that notification center is on all apple devices, Skype will probably put out a point update addressing the notifications. The bad news is that you will have to leave v2.8 behind on the mac and move on to v6.

And even apples implementation in messages is funny. Reading messages on one device , marks them as read on all devices. But deleting a conversation on one device does not delete it from the others. Maybe its a safety net, but its funny to me.

Never had an issue like you describe. But had an issue a couple of times where I can hear the other person, but they cant hear me. So hung up and called again and it was ok. Might be a server side glitch, happens occasionally.

Interestingly, the Android version of Skype *does* have a 'Mark all read' button. A good example of the fragmentation across platforms.