Skype has just released a new version of its software for Mac. The beta version has been out for a few months now, and Skype says that it’s made a number of changes based on user feedback.
This new version also introduces group video calling as part of its Premium package. There is a 7 day free trial for new users, but then you’ll need to purchase either a day pass ($4.99) or buy a monthly subscription ($8.99 per month) for the feature.
Skype says that it has made some adjustments to the Mac version based on some of the feedback to the beta version. As someone who downloads a lot of new software and has a pretty high tolerance for early iterations of products, I admit, I quickly uninstalled the beta version. It was too big and unwieldy. Skype says it’s addressed that. It’s kept the single-pane UI, but “we’ve slimmed things down a bit in the new version, trimming pixels and realigning things to make the app altogether more compact.”
Still missing from this version is deep integration with Facebook, something we’ve been looking forward to since the two companies announced a partnership last year. But as Mike Melanson reported yesterday, it does seem as though Facebook is testing some VOIP calling. It’s just obviously not in this new version of the Skype client for Mac.
