Skype 5.0 for Mac contains plenty of other new features, though it is still lacking at least one feature of its Windows sibling, albeit one that not everyone will miss: There is no word yet from Skype on what GVC’s pricing will be or how it will fit into Skype’s existing price plans. Johnson explained to Macworld via (what else) Skype chat that GVC is free to use while Skype 5.0 is in beta, but a paid plan will be required once the feature officially ships. Skype 5.0’s group video chat looks a bit like iChat’s, but unlike iChat, it supports up to ten members in a single chat (which requires that all parties have a minimum broadband connection of 4 mbps down and 1 mbps up). If you don’t want to keep Skype’s hefty new window around, you can open the Contact Monitor, which offers a compact window that is more akin to the style of a thin buddy list that you can keep to the side of your work.īeyond the major interface overhaul, the most significant new feature in Skype 5.0 for Mac is easily Group Video Calling (GVC), which first arrived in the Windows client last month. This means you can finally call, SMS, or IM contacts without first having to go through the process of adding them to your Skype contact list. For the first time, Skype 5.0 for Mac lets you turn on full integration with Mac OS X’s Address Book from the preferences. It’s a fairly minimal interface that feels all right (but not great) on the Mac.Ī left sidebar contains contacts, groups, and a Recent list that displays the contacts you correspond with the most frequently. Skype for Mac has shed the narrow-windowed “contact list” appearance-a staple of virtually every chat app on the market-in favor of an almost e-mail client approach. ![]() ![]() The first thing you’ll probably notice about the beta of Skype 5.0 for Mac is its interface: it looks absolutely nothing like its predecessor, and entirely like its Windows counterpart, which got the 5.0 treatment in mid-October.
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