For your own convenience and people, I made a patched version of Skype for Linux version 4.2.0.13, which can work in current conditions and not require updating to a newer one. What exactly is fixed there will not say, you can find a solution on the network. Those who are interested can see the differences between binary executable files.

Why it was done

It's no secret that with the release of version 4.3.0.37, support for linux configurations without pulseaudio has been dropped on Skype. This state of affairs did not suit me very much, because pulseaudio creates a hiss when removing sound from a microphone on my computers. Therefore, pure alsa is my choice.

After a brief search, a way was found to bypass the update requirement. I will not describe the method myself so that it lasts longer.

Where to get

UPD: there was ppa, but it was removed due to violations of launchpad rules.
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Links to deb-files:
ge.tt
Yandex.Disk
MEGA
Google drive
Backup link

For compatibility, the versions in the packages are changed to 4.3.0.37, so that they are not updated themselves, if you have ubuntu trusty and the partner repository is connected, the program itself is inside version 4.2.0.13.

What will happen next

It can be seen that the current owner of Skype does not care about their users on the linux platform and will deal with such corrections of the program under their control, so we can expect that this version may ask for updates in the future. I hope I can find a way around the future defenses.

Are there any alternatives

As already noted on Habre, there are skype alternatives, but they are not all very ready yet, or not available on all platforms. I myself hope for the Tox project.
I didn’t like Google hangouts due to the lack of a separate program for linux (I didn’t watch it for other platforms), hence its too much voracity in terms of resources.
Viber requires a smartphone to activate the program.
It can be concluded that while there is no alternative to skype (with the same functions and platform support).

Conclusion

I hope that microsoft will heed the requests of its users on linux and release an updated skype version with alsa and pulseaudio support (as it was in version 4.2.0.13) and I would not have to look for new ways to bypass the limitations of the old version.

UPD: The bvn13 user posted a link to the petition to add alsa support to future skype versions for linux.

UPD: A selection of portable patched versions for windows.

UPD: For oss they made a wrapper to replace the pulseaudio library with calls to oss. Maybe someone will do the same for alsa.

UPD: Recommendation how to run Skype 4.3 through the apulse layer from the user safinaskar

I installed Skype 4.3 with the apulse program that emulates pulseaudio ( github.com/i-rinat/apulse , habrahabr.ru/post/241045 ) and everything works. If you have a 64-bit OS, then build with the -m32 option, or simply build in a 32-bit chroot (in any case, I have these methods in Debian). In other words, a program that emulates pulseaudio already exists and it is great! It is written by our Russian developer Rinat Ibragimov ( github.com/i-rinat ) just to bypass the situation with Skype.

Assembled deb package with integrated apulse skype 4.3 , tested on Ubuntu 14.04.