An tweet by Mark Gillett, CVP Skype & Lync at Microsoft, alerted me to the fact that Skype now runs in the browser via a small plugin.
How do you get going? Skype didn’t overly advertise to me to download the plugin. Actually I had a little time finding it. (probably looking too hard…) Below are the steps I followed:
Goto People and find a user that is online. Now click on Video Call.
You will be asked to agree to a TOU & Privacy Policy.
Now the plugin will start downloading.
The plugin is approximately 4MB. (as shown below)
Watch for the Security Warning and click Run
Done!
You can now start a call either from the People screen or the Communication pane.
The Skype plugin is a different Window. (from the browser)
Call in progress
Pop out IM during a call
You can also launch via the Communication pane.
Our Outlook
Some notes:
- Skype from Browser does not require the Skype app, just the plugin
- The plugin is around 4MB
- Incoming Calls popup much like Skype client
- I haven’t figured how to change audio/video devices (if you know, please comment)
- Make sure geo.gateway.messenger.live.com is not blocked on your network.
- Multiplatform support (source)
- Windows: Explorer 8+, Chrome 19, Firefox 12
- MAC: Chrome, Firefox
It looks like Skype is okay running in the browser. (albeit using a plug-in) Will there be this same openness to running “native” in a browser? Interesting road ahead.
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