Buy a new PC:

At the moment it seems to require too much CPU. My laptop continually ran at 90 to 100%. It gets hot running like that! The desktop runs at 50% or so. Thus under perfect conditions you can have a fantastic video experience over Skype. That is great PCs at each end and a good broadband connection. As a result I began to reconfigure my desk.

Start Video

The default setting is "start video", thus when 2.0 is loaded correctly everyone on your buddylist becomes a potential video caller. That goes beyond my intimacy and comfort zone and I think it will for most people. It's a wonderful way to demonstrate how easy video calls can be. I just have a buddylist that is more like a contact list and I'm not sure I want video to self initiate with all of them.

Second, this auto start thing assumes one is just at the PC. However, my Skype experience is now very much multi-modal with an RTX Dualphone being a key part of the action. So on the auto setting above I can be in another room on my RTX and the video is running back on the PC where ever it is located. This may not be a good practice in college dorms when you have carried your phone next door or outside for a private conversation. You get the gist. This can all be fixed. It just needs incorporating into the API (still waiting) and the certification program to ensure that devices without video that could be away from the PC don't inadvertently activate it.

It took two minutes of use for me to tick the video tab and change it to starting on demand. I think others will do the same. Now part of this is a shame. For the beauty of Skype's video-on-connect was the speed with which it appears. For those few that are prepared to always enable video, it's not an option and the "joy" factor and the "negotiation" factor now become issues. It's a shame you couldn't state Mum, Dad, brother, sister, girlfriend, boyfriend etc to have the auto function enabled. Perhaps when contact grouping become more "status" aware it will be possible.

I was sad to change it to press-to-start. The technology will move slower. Until it's embedded in Wi-Fi mobile phones and devices it may not get the same level of momemtum.

The UI - user interface.

Again I've been getting different comments. Most seem to dislike the small screens of themselves. However, this may actually be a good choice. It's all about reducing the impact and conscious thinking about yourself and all about concentrating on the other person. When they are full screen (particularly at 19 inches) their heads are lifesize on your desktop. It may well become a natural way to talk. This is a conscious decision by the designers I think. Maybe in further editions you will get the choice to make your own pic larger, however the only time I see that as a positive is when you want to make and send a video message to someone else. Most I've talked to find the full screen etc. buttons a little messy. That may go away with use. Still people won't give the "video" experience many goes before giving up on it.

Is "pause" a surprising omission? Video does pause if you put the caller on hold. You can also stop the video. Pause could be interesting and useful for sharing item or holding up a read this etc.

Those Developers:

Festoon and Spontania, the Skype plugins that heralded a video solution for Skype, remain more interesting in many ways. Still, over time, Skype will simply absorb solutions like these into its product. Short-term there is nothing to suggest that Skype can or will do multi-video conferences. It also failed to learn much from iChat which remains the premier video chat application. We wrote on these pages ages ago that iChat was the benchmark. At one time Skype would have surpassed a standard like that. They did with audio for example. Today the targets seem to be much lower. It's either growth pains or lack of vision.

In the end I believe Skype rushed Video to market. It's frankly no better than a (I think 1.3) beta that was sent to me back in February or early March of this year. That is partially engineering resources I'm sure. However, it was important to get it right and releasing this now, in this version and format, is "me-too" rather than we-are-leaders. It does show some thoughtful UI design but more is required. Where it really fails: product management didn't create a context for it that redefined media. Now Skype can only hope that users start running their TV Tuners through it, sharing desktops with it etc. Then maybe they will get some new ideas. Thus the story I see is one that is not yet being told on video.