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Skype's glaring missing feature

by Office Watch 25 February 2014

There’s one glaring omission from Skype that’s an embarrassment to Microsoft

It’s been almost two years since Microsoft bought Skype, yet even the simple bits of integration with Microsoft Office haven’t appeared.

The most basic mixing of Office and Skype is an Outlook social connector. This would let Skype contacts appear in the Outlook 2010/2013 People Pane. Skype is notable by its absence from the ‘Add Provider‘ web page.

Skype is also MIA from the social network providers list in Office 2013. Go to the web page and you’ll see Twitter, LinkedIn and even Microsoft’s main rival, Google. But no sign of a major Microsoft subsidiary.

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Sure, there’s 60 Skype calling minutes per month included with the Office 365 Home Premium package. But that’s as far as Microsoft has gone.

An independent Skype could do these integrations (just as Twitter, Linkin and Google have), let alone a division of Microsoft. All that’s lacking, apparently, is the will to do anything. It’s a good example of how Microsoft has changed to a slow, lumbering and cumbersome company.

If anyone at Microsoft is interested in fixing this, they only have to look at Microsoft’s own web site to get a start.

Skype's glaring missing feature

Secrets and tips for the Windows 10 May 2020 update

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