Skype is available to Russian users from a browser

Russian users after the residents of the US and the UK. Now you can exchange messages for free, make voice and video calls without installing a client application. All you have to do is sign in to the Skype website to start chatting right away. Although the web page replicates the interface of the application, the test version still has significant functionality limitations.

The idea of ​​running a messaging service right in a browser window is not new. So long ago Google Hangouts, Firefox Hello and many more. The theoretical advantage here is obvious: no additional applications need to be installed for a conversation, and conversations can be easily continued from any device that can run a browser.

In practice, things are not so smooth. First, the browser is required to support modern technologies. In particular, WebRTC and HTML5, with which no one is fully friends yet. Try to pass the corresponding test in any browser. Secondly, it is often impossible to continue the dialogue, since the message base is usually stored locally and is not always correctly synchronized. This is typical for Skype in its classical implementation.

Thirdly, there are more than a dozen actual browsers today, even within the same operating system. It would take an enormous amount of work to make any service in each of them work correctly. Testing the browser version of Skype by individual invitations began in mid-November last year, and the public beta became available only now.

Compatibility with popular browsers on different engines implies the availability of only basic functionality that will not suit sophisticated users. Everything else has to be implemented as plugins and other add-ons specific to each version of the browser, taking into account the OS and its bitness. Add to this a growing fleet of mobile devices with a built-in browser, translation of the interface into different languages, and you get a rough idea of ​​​​the scale of the task.

The Skype beta version currently runs on Windows (XP SP3 and later), Internet Explorer 10 and later, Chrome (43.0 and up) and Firefox (38.0 and up). On Mac OS, it is only available when loading a web page in Safari 6 and later.

Currently, the authorization procedure can be completed using a Skype or Microsoft account (it is recommended to link them to each other), and soon Facebook login will be added to them. In my opinion, this is a potentially dangerous implementation, since now it will be enough to steal any of the three accounts to access other people's contacts and the archive of correspondence in Skype.

Even with limited browser support, the current beta version of Skype is very modest in functionality. Now, without additional actions, you can only communicate by text. It is not yet possible to organize an audio or video conference yourself, but you can join an existing one - by invitation from those who have installed the Skype client application and organized a conference from it.

Calls to mobiles and landlines via the browser-based Skype are also not yet available. The client application will be needed not only to perform advanced functions with the account (which is logical), but also some basic ones. For example, you can't even delete a selected contact or change audio settings from Skype on the web right now.

To make regular and video calls to other Skype subscribers, you will need to install a plug-in, the size of which varies from 6 to 13 MB. This is not much (especially compared to the size of Skype for Windows), but it defeats the whole idea of ​​​​easy communication in the browser. Installation will require administrator rights in the same way as the regular version of Skype, and the plugin will be updated periodically.

For six months of closed beta testing, the developers have not been able to eliminate the significant lag between the Skype browser version and a regular client application. The plug-in for Mac OS is being updated with a delay, and the full operation of Skype from Chrome in this operating system is completely impossible. So far, Apple has only to load the page with the beta version of Skype in Safari to make regular or video calls.