Skype preview starts rolling out to Outlook.com users

April 30, 2013

The productivity convergence has begun. Microsoft began rolling out Skype functionality to Outlook.com late Monday after promising the functionality to Outlook users nearly a year ago. A preview version of Skype for Outlook.com is currently available to a select group of users in the United Kingdom. The company plans to roll out the service to users in the U.S. and Germany in the coming weeks, with worldwide availability planned for the summer. SkypeThe banner letting you know Skype is available. When Skype is available for your account, you’ll see a banner alert drop down from the messaging icon in the upper right corner. You’ll be able to use IM with your Skype contacts right away, but video and audio calling requires a Web plug-in for Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Sounds simple, right? There are a few questions. It’s not clear if non-Safari using Mac owners will also be able to use Skype's Outlook.com calling functionality, or if this feature is just for Windows users. It’s also not clear if Skype for Outlook.com will work with ARM-based Windows RT tablets since you have to download a plugin for the functionality to work. Browser plug-in support for the modern UI is limited, while the RT desktop is not compatible with legacy Windows applications. We’ve dropped a line to Microsoft and will update this article when we hear back. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2036825/skype-functionality-starts-rolling-out-to-outlook-com.html#tk.rss_all