Skype 4.1 For Linux Released

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Skype 4.1 For Linux Released

Microsoft has released Skype 4.1 for Linux...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTIyODg

[aironeous]

Wow really? Why would they do this when they are at proxy war with linux all the time? Is this some sort of effort to eventually get MS code into linux?

[deanjo]

Skype 4.1 For Linux Released

Gabe and Valve scold Windows 8 and say they bring out Steam for Linux (*cough* Ubuntu *cough) but yet very corporation he scolds can make multi distro packages for Skype.

[chris200x9]

Gabe and Valve scold Windows 8 and say they bring out Steam for Linux (*cough* Ubuntu *cough) but yet very corporation he scolds can make multi distro packages for Skype.

Yes because we all know ubuntu packages can't be made to work on nearly any linux platform and besides it's not like steam is in a CLOSED beta or anything...

[GreatEmerald]

Oh hey, now they write "multiarch" instead of "64-bit" in their download page. That's a welcome change to clear up misunderstandings. Though I still have no idea why they won't release a 64-bit version...

[blackout23]

Oh hey, now they write "multiarch" instead of "64-bit" in their download page. That's a welcome change to clear up misunderstandings. Though I still have no idea why they won't release a 64-bit version...

It's a Microsoft thing. You have to work at Microsoft to get it.

Steam is a bit tricky with a generic package because it pulls missing libs for certain games and therefore has to speak to the package manager. It's probably not easy to make this generic. Right now it is tailored to apt and Ubuntus Repos.

BTW: On Arch the update breaks something:

/usr/lib32/skype/skype: error while loading shared libraries: libQtWebKit.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

[deanjo]

Yes because we all know ubuntu packages can't be made to work on nearly any linux platform and besides it's not like steam is in a CLOSED beta or anything...

So why doesn't Valve do so? Heck even MS can supply a generic package. They can port their Steam client, port their engine but not take what amounts to being a junior intern job of packaging.

[vyrgozunqk]

The general and most visible new stuff in 4.1 as i can see without the official changelog is that you have a new option, under the "Video" configuration menu.
It's a switch for turning on and off Auto-exposure for the webcams.

Now if only there was somebody to fix those damn crappy linux UVC to support switching off the auto-exposure on every UVC, will be good !
As always in linux... Something is wrong and doesn't work...

But hey - It's free... Haha ( me being sarcastic)

[Vash63]

So why doesn't Valve do so? Heck even MS can supply a generic package. They can port their Steam client, port their engine but not take what amounts to being a junior intern job of packaging.

wtf are you even talking about? Not only did they not say that Steam would be Ubuntu only, but it's now in Arch's official repos and I know first hand multiple Arch users and a bunch of Arch devs that are in the beta officially... as in Valve knows they're not on Ubuntu and still let them in. Just because they picked Ubuntu first as their official test distribution doesn't mean they're only going to support it... and in fact they've never said anything to indicate that and were clear that Ubuntu was just the FIRST distribution, not ONLY.

[F i L]

So why doesn't Valve do so? Heck even MS can supply a generic package. They can port their Steam client, port their engine but not take what amounts to being a junior intern job of packaging.

Microsoft is a much larger company than Microsoft. Their resources might be divided bit differently. Plus, Valve has only stated that they're targeting Ubuntu for now, who knows what will happen after they work out the bugs and release.... Native Steam is already in the official Arch Linux repos ;-) I'm sure it will be in others soon enough.