Microsoft announces Skype for Windows 8

Skype, a video-chat service owned by Microsoft, will be deeply integrated into Windows 8, says Microsoft. 

|
Tony Avelar/Invision for Skype/AP
Tony Bates, president of the Skype division of Microsoft, shares a light moment as he waits to connect via Skype with Jeremy Gilley, founder of Peace One Day during the Peace Day Concert at Wembley Arena in London in September.

Microsoft's Windows Store might have more than a few big-name apps missing when it officially launches alongside Windows 8 on October 26th, but Skype won't be one of them. Today, the Microsoft-owned video chatting service pulled back the curtain on Skype for Windows 8, a version that sinks deep hooks in the soon-to-be-released operating system and works just as well on Windows RT tablets.

Skype for Windows 8 sports a Modern-style makeover, as one would expect, complete with a Live Tile that displays missed calls and new instant messages. Microsoft also added Skype to the People app, so the Skype number for your friends will appear alongside their email addresses, normal phone numbers and social media information.

The Modern version of Skype allows you to merge your Skype account with your Windows Account, which signs you into the messaging service whenever you log on to a Windows 8 PC or tablet. Skype for Windows 8 runs in the background without draining your battery, and if someone calls or messages you while you're in another app, you'll receive a Windows 8 notification saying as much.

Like every Modern-style app, Skype for Windows 8 supports the operating system's new Snap feature, allowing you to dock Skype at the edge of the screen while continuing to work with another app in the main portion. That way, you can continue working or surfing the Web while chatting with your Grandma on Skype.

With Windows 8's launch date barreling down, expect to hear more big-name Windows 8 app announcements as the week goes on. We'll be sure to let you know when the biggest new apps become available. Hopefully, Microsoft is able to fill a few more holes in its app lineup before the big day.

Copyright 2012 LAPTOP, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Microsoft announces Skype for Windows 8
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Latest-News-Wires/2012/1022/Microsoft-announces-Skype-for-Windows-8
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe