Skype - Completely redesigned with GIFs, group video chat, & stories

See a lot of chatter here about the stories component, but aside from that, it appears to be a major overhaul in the UI and visual identity. Very pretty looking from the landing page examples, can't wait to try it out.

what the hell have Skype done? i get that they're trying to be a Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook competitor, but what about the people that use Skype professionally (which are likely to be the majority)? this seems like a dumb move, over-catering to a young demographic. i'll stick to wire (although, it should be noted that the desktop client of Skype is still the same old Skype we know, which i hope is how it'll stay for at least a while longer)

Perfect! Now the Skype spam bots have a platform to post their stories to 😊

The new visual design looks very lightweight and contemporary. Obviously gradients are being overdone these days, but this seems like a nice, tasteful facelift.

While I think remixing Skype is a brave and smart move, this feels like a knee-jerk reaction to the trend of the day. However, I don't think Skype faces much risk in alienating its current user-base since most previous users probably won't care. It'll be interesting to see if they also launch a Skype Pro version for business users

I appreciate that MS is trying to make Skype more relevant to what consumers expect these days, but man oh man, I'm really concerned how this will be received by users — like myself — who use it primarily for work. Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who knee-jerk-reaction hates change, and I'm completely on board with Skype getting a design refresh (it's been far too long since someone gave Skype's UI the love and attention it deserves) but having used Skype ~8 hours a day, every day for the last 5 years or so, I'm seriously having a hard time imagining how I fit into this brave new world of theirs. That said, I really hope they prove my doubts wrong and I end up loving it, because it's an indispensable tool for me.

I don't get all the negativity. Everything, every startup and product is inspired by something that came before it. Everyone's talking about Slack as if Slack was a completely original concept when it came out. I for one really like the new visual identity, focus on fun and the revamps to video calls.

Everything is Snapchat now!

It will be interesting what Skype does with business users like me. I pay each quarter to use Skype to call cells and landlines in U.S and Canada. This idea seems like a wacky departure. There are a lot of people like me. Seems that they should use Skype technology, but spin off this snapchat mutant, while keeping Skype as it is.

How do you do, fellow kids