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Skype announces plan to discontinue support for older versions of Mac client

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Skype has announced that it will discontinue support for older versions of its desktop clients, including Skype for Mac.” An exact date for the change hasn’t been given, but the company says it will happen “over the next few months.” Mobile clients like Skype for iPhone won’t be affected by the change.

The specific versions being phased out are 6.14 and older (the current version is 6.18). The change is being made to ensure feature compatibility across the versions of the software in use and enable the developers to continue building on that foundation. The current version of Skype offers several features not provided in older versions, such as the option to send messages to offline users.

You can update to the latest version of Skype by using the in-app option to check for updates or by downloading it straight from the official website.

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Comments

  1. antrikshy - 10 years ago

    I hope this means there is a refresh coming that will go with the new iPhone version.

  2. Stephen Toth (@setoth96) - 10 years ago

    No no no no no!!! This means no more PowerPC support!!! We need that! I, for one, am a blind computer user. and need to VNC into a PowerMac G5 server at home. I use Skype to call into the server to remote control it because vNC doesn’t support audio. What will I do for this setup?

  3. Abbi Vakil (@AbbiV) - 10 years ago

    Interesting decision by Skype, I wonder if it is because of Security- I know so many people who still use version 2.8.0.866 of Skype :-o BUT, the latest version of Skype is Mavericks only. What do people running 10.8 do? There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to search for older versions of Skype on their website :-/

    • Danie Huang (@DanieHuang) - 10 years ago

      Simply upgrade to OS X Mavericks

    • Xavier Poirot (@dalaen) - 10 years ago

      10.9 is free

      • John Langa - 10 years ago

        Not everyone can run 10.9. Some of us are still on Snow Leopard because that’s what our Intel Xeon Mac Pros (which still kick butt in performance) are capable of running. My machine has 16GB of RAM, 5TB in internal space including OWC SSD storage. It makes no sense to throw all of this out because M$ doesn’t want to allow their program to work with SL. Never mind that it’s unhealthy for the environment to junk perfectly good hardware.

        Skype 6.15 is still compatible with Snow Leopard. Hopefully when Micro$oft said they’d end support for 6.14 and below they meant that 6.15 would still be OK.

  4. You assholes. I still run 2.8. I will switch to another service before updating. Especially as you keep stealing my credit for no reason. I don’t make anything but free calls, yet my credit depletes every few months and auto-tops-up.

    • focuswater - 10 years ago

      Skype isn’t “stealing” your credit. The problem is you’re not using it so it’s becoming inactive. It’ll become inactive after 180 days. Also, maybe you should disable auto-recharge and learn how to use Skype before complaining.

    • Xavier Poirot (@dalaen) - 10 years ago

      It’s in the ToS, that you indeed read and signed before purchasing credit.
      Credit not used in 180 days will be deleted.

      By the way, what about updating?

    • “I’m” the one who doesn’t know how to use Skype? Oh, funny. I’ve been using Skype since its inception, and perhaps the two of you would now like to eat some humble pie and do some research before being caught out being ignorant in claiming someone else is ignorant: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10378/what-do-i-do-about-inactive-skype-credit

      Morons.

  5. Rod Lewis - 10 years ago

    I use version 2.8 on my MBA as do many others unhappy with the screen hogging later versions. Time to forget Skype completely?

  6. Lance Newcomb - 10 years ago

    Facetime is free.

  7. Waqar Ahmed - 10 years ago

    oh.. whyy

  8. standardpull - 10 years ago

    It is quite plausible that they’re doing this for good reason. Skype is a client server model and so therefore it needs to be reasonably compatible withe the other clients and servers in the field.

    But security, performance, patent violations/avoidance, or reliability may be great reasons to sunset old versions of the client software.

  9. rswai - 10 years ago

    Don’t be left behind..time to update!

  10. When was the last time Skype ever bothered to write any release notes for any of their software updates?

  11. saoir - 10 years ago

    I am on Mavericks and still use version 2.8.0.866 I tried later versions a number of times but reverted because they are so horrendous.

    If Skype discontinues then I am finished with Skype. There are other alternatives.

  12. Good…

    Now hopefully they will have enough resources and time to release a version on the Mac that isn’t dog slow to load and a total resource hog.