Skype

Skype was pretty terrible from the start, but it has been completely devastated through recent updates. The UWP version of the client was (like almost every UWP app) an entirely unusable, feature-free toy that wasn't useful for anything, but at least we could use the legacy desktop version. Now my Windows 7 client was updated to a similarly horrible version that won't let me do any of the things I used to do in Skype anymore.

It's one of those mind-bogglingly bloated Electron applications, which means you'll get a 180 MB monstrosity of a JS framework and browser, for functionality that used to fit into 3 MB. Of course that also means that its UI is built with web technologies, which means it's a disgrace to even call it a desktop app – it's not anymore. It's as numbingly slow and high-latency as you would expect a web app to be. Don't even get me started on memory consumption. 400 MB in idle without any windows open? You bet. Damned be the day that web developers began to be able/allowed to develop for Desktop, because they don't have a freaking clue what they're doing.

Of course, the best part is that it's a complete re-write, with an estimated 95% of the features that the previous Skype clients had simply gone without replacement. Contact groups? Gone. Chat search? Gone. Configuration options? Gone. Now it's just another flashy-looking but useless toy that doesn't cater to anyone's needs anymore, with the only distinguishing feature being that some old contacts of yours might still be using it. Ditch it, the sooner the better.

Skype is self-destructing. Constant forced updates that don't improve anything, they just make it harder to find what settings they have screwed up. My CEO has tasked me with finding an alternative for company-wide use. Then it will be "Goodbye Skype".

I don't know what happened with this app.
From the version 8 it is completely unusable for me, I don't see any new feature and on the contrary I can't perform some basic/fundamental operations that I was used to do with the previous version.
I hope to find soon a valid alternative.

The forced update to the UWP version of Skype is a showstopper. People are leaving this service in droves. For years at work, we've relied on Skype as a primary means of communication and within the space of months, Microsoft have been solely responsible for driving away it's own user base.

We now use Slack, but there are now many options that are more viable than this new busted Skype.

Awful and getting worse since Microsoft acquired the app. Bloated, clunky, consumes far too much resource, constant connectivity issues when using IM (I think something to do with the stupid multiple Microsoft IP blacklists). All in all, just one massive headache using Skype for business use.