Microsoft why are you killing skype?

GlobalLogic / Eng
grip.sioux

Go to company page GlobalLogic Eng

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outsource
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Moved to US
grip.sioux
Jul 29, 2017 106 Comments

Ever since MS acquired Skype the product's been degrading. Each release:
- design gets uglier
- new bugs and regression
- another set of weird smiles

The latest iOS version looks like 1st April joke. "Highlights", "Capture" - seriously?

What's wrong with it? Is there a way people can vote to banish the product manager or whoever makes those decisions? :)

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TOP 106 Comments
  • Part of the requirement to be CEO at Microsoft is to buy established companies and destroy their products. The Skype project is going well and we plan to make LinkedIn a priority this year.
    Jul 29, 2017 9
    • Apple / Eng
      DudeAbides

      Go to company page Apple Eng

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      Microsoft
      DudeAbides
      I had to install and setup skype for my mother in law's iPhone and I was horrified. WTF has Microsoft done?!

      I remember lots of threads in the Microsoft lounge about many tears being shed in the Skype org and profoundly horrible management running the product to the ground and then closing entire sites. All we could do is light a candle for the poor bastards. Same with Nokia.
      Jul 31, 2017
    • Oracle
      jceg8

      Go to company page Oracle

      jceg8
      When is LinkedIn azure integration coming?
      Aug 1, 2017
  • Let me summarize what happened here:
    Product Management decided that new "strategy" was to go after a younger, millennial audience by changing the information architecture (side swipe) and adding stories, their mantra, the only "vision" that they managed to convey was: "grandma is dead", by grandma they meant all Skype existing users.
    Product Management also decided to move the entire code base to React native to code once and deploy on iOS and Android.
    Product Management then decided that Skype needed a new branding and visual language.
    These three decisions haven't been validated at all, they are so convinced that their point of view is right that they didn't listen to internal feedback, actually sidelining anybody who dared asking basic questions like: "what's the rational for getting rid of presence", answer: "WhatsApp doesn't have presence" end of the discussion.

    All of these three decisions that make the three pillars of product design turned out to be wrong, disastrous actually. Infact this was called "the worse update ever".

    They gave themselves a promotion just for shipping this product full of bugs, badly designed and with fewer features than the previous version. They are now scrambling trying to fix this mess but they are still not listening, they are still making decisions for which they now nothing in engineering and design (and product).

    The only thing that would fix this situation would be to fire Amritansh, Eran, Danny, Punchcut (and ask for our money back), they completely lost control and trust of the organization that knew all along that this was going to happen and tried to warm them.

    We all know that these guys mentioned above aren't going anywhere, not until they cash in their bonuses and stocks, then hopefully they'll be moved somewhere else, probably where Gurdeep is now.

    This is Microsoft.
    Jul 29, 2017 21
    • Intuit
      Minzy

      Go to company page Intuit

      Minzy
      After also seeing these types of leaders at Intuit ruining products, I concluded: its never about the product for them to begin with. Every decision and every move they make is for themselves and their own promotions. And they got each others backs while doing it. If these leaders actually cared, things like this would be obvious. But, unfortunately the product is just a tool that they leech on and then throw it away when things go downhill. And then get a fat paycheck for getting rid of it. They can't lose.

      So problem is, why do companies hire such people to begin with, and why cant they get rid of them when there is one?
      Jul 31, 2017
    • Microsoft / Eng
      afk15

      Go to company page Microsoft Eng

      afk15
      Ppl are moving to fb to talk to their grandmas now. Skype now looks like a dating app.
      Aug 1, 2017
  • The product was crap before they bought it and after the purchase they added more crap to it. Don't blame Indians or their smiles as it makes you look racist
    Jul 29, 2017 5
  • Cummins / Eng
    anonc1

    Go to company page Cummins Eng

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    cummins, Caterpillar, Inc, medtronic
    anonc1
    Here is some voice of customer..keep it simple stupid, dont need it to be fancy, just need it to perform
    Jul 29, 2017 0
  • Microsoft / Eng
    Trotwood

    Go to company page Microsoft Eng

    Trotwood
    This isn't a debate culture, it's a ship and try to make impact culture, so the result is the products are universally terrible here. Apple is a debate culture so if something stinks, someone will point it out and the whole team will debate it possibly for hours until either its obvious it's a wrong idea or until a better idea emerges, and there's no pressure to ship there, only a pressure to ship something good. I feel as though Microsoft made good product decisions in the past, although I don't know what the culture was like then and why their products are no longer great. In Apple's case it's because they still have the shrink wrap software mentality of ship against the keynote cadence and make it perfect rather than ship continuously. It seems as though we have the philosophy of do whatever you want and let the engagement of customers positive or negative tell us how to pivot? What were we like in the past that worked? What changed?
    Jul 29, 2017 1