Ever since Microsoft announced that Skype’s group video calling was going from premium to free, it should be no surprise that users would start using it. It turns out, people are using it a lot. Since going the gratis route, Microsoft has noted a 4x increase in the number of group video calls, and although users are allowed a large number of participants, most calls average 3 to 4 users.†
Like many things Microsoft these days, the modern Skype app for Windows 8/8.1 didn’t support it yet. Finally, today the Skype team announced that group calling was coming to modern Windows.
It’s not your ordinary app, however. It looks like a lot of thought went into making group calling feel and work better on Modern Windows than other mobile platforms. For example, the new app is optimized to show the three most talkitive people, plus yourself, simultaneously. Video from other participants will start appearing in when they start speaking, and you can switch to a full screen view of any participant at any time to make sure they’re paying attention or picking their nose as others’ converse.
As another nice treat compared to other tablets, if you want to browse the Web, watch a video, or check emails during a group video call, you can resize Skype so that it only takes up part of your screen.
Just yesterday Microsoft reaffirmed that Windows will continue to have the best experience, but we can only hope the company can bring it a bit quicker in the future.
If you’re curious what went into getting this feature to the Windows App, check out the video below.
