Skype 5.8 for Mac announced

You think that your Mac is the next best thing since sliced bread, at least where the world of computing is concerned? Good news then, with the latest word on the Skype 5.8 for Mac’s release, as this new version of Skype will help send your contact list to the fat house to lose some weight, while making video calls with other mobile users in addition to Group Screen Sharing have just gotten an experience upgrade.

 

Skype 5.8 for Mac was launched recently, and with this particular update, it is said that the overall usability of the Skype for Mac client has been increased, in addition to the folks over at Skype rolling out a bunch of new features that we will look at in closer detail after the jump.

Tony Bates, President of the Skype division of Microsoft, said, “You’ve been very vocal with your thoughts about the revamped full-screen user interface we introduced in Skype 5.0 and we’ve been listening intently. For this reason, we’re excited to announce the return of the slim contact list that so many of you have been requesting. Now you can reposition and resize your contact list however you like. We believe this change will simplify your experience.”

Apart from that, Skype video calls has also received an improvement – at least in Skype’s eyes, so you might want to do your part and confirm what they have just shared, otherwise the software engineers might feel that all of their hard work has gone down the drain. Imagine talking with someone who is using Skype for iPhone, Skype for iPad or Skype for Android, and that person changes the rotation of their mobile device from portrait to landscape (or vice versa), Skype for Mac is smart enough to detect this change, and it will automatically re-orient the video call. If that is not smart, I am not quite sure what to call it. 

Screen Sharing has also been improved, where you are now able to share your desktop over a call, or simply to show friends and family your photos. Skype Premium subscribers will also enable Skype 5.8 for Mac to simultaneously display your live video alongside your photos, allowing your mates and family members to view what you are seeing, and you can check out their reactions in near real-time speed. 

Not only that, you can now also open chats in separate windows, keeping track of what’s going on with multiple contacts simultaneously, making the latent multi-tasker in you a very, very happy person. Have you downloaded and installed Skype 5.8 for Mac already?