Skype 4.0: "at liberty"
This is the second of a series of Skype blog posts telling how work was done on Skype 4.0 for Windows. Translation of the first part is here .
The first steps
June 18, 2008 was the day when Skype 4.0 for Windows was first introduced to the public, and the beginning of a completely new public beta-testing process for Skype. When working on previous versions, we released one beta, fixed bugs, and a “golden” version was released a month or two later.
This time we decided to use public beta not only to collect information about errors, but also to get feedback on the interface. In addition, we intended to bring to trial of this beta version not only experienced users, who up to this point made up the bulk of our beta testers. Therefore, in addition to the fact that we talked a lot about all three beta versions of Skype 4.0 for Windows on this blog, we also actively offered them to new and less experienced users, since they constitute a significant proportion of our total user base.
Do not forget that for many of these new users, the very idea of ​​using a computer for making calls might seem rather unusual, and by offering them (and other newbies) beta 4.0 we could get and measure the response of a much wider sample than what we used earlier, which also represented our user base as a whole much better.
Open Day
Reviews of the first beta were mixed, but we can not say that it came as a surprise to us . The changes made to the design of the application window were annoying for many - the reaction we wanted to provoke to understand exactly what experienced users like so much in the old interface, which is now called “Compact Mode”. This was the first time that Skype so openly approached the collection and processing of your feedback. As Skype product strategy director Mike Bartlet noted in a later blog post :
Different users give very different reviews. For example, in the Skype forums, where many of our most experienced users are chatting, we are faced with a lot of negativity, especially with regard to the size of the window. However, the research that we conducted suggests otherwise: more than 70% of respondents said they prefer the first beta interface over the old one.
Since the release of the first beta, we have received a total of 50,000 reviews, through polls, bug reports, as well as thousands of blogs, forums, tweets, etc. Our experience team, made up of designers and researchers, spent hours studying your comments, and we read absolutely everything we could find.
The usability team also personally met with Skype users to discuss the changes and improvements we could make to Skype, and in total we conducted more than 350 such sessions around the world.
Spotlight 4.0
We decided to focus on three main objectives when working on Skype 4.0: excellent call quality, improved video quality and ease of use. Given these priorities, we made strategic decisions on how to work with reviews, using quantitative evaluation to determine the priority of particular requests.
Work on the preparation of the second beta began in the summer of 2008, and it was released on October 1. The introduction of the ability to switch to “compact mode” satisfied the vast majority of those who complained about the new interface, and thanks to improvements in the notification system, it became easier to distinguish between incoming and missed calls and text messages - both of these changes our users asked us after testing the first beta.
')
Perfection
After the release of the second beta, we were able to prepare a third much faster - we used this opportunity to add some missing features, such as the full message history (history), and the update a little later provided an opportunity to see some unnoticed “outside” functions and features that officially debut in the final version.
They have been developed by Skype on their own over the past two years and demonstrate our commitment to innovation. When the final version of Skype 4.0 for Windows is uploaded to our servers for download [the original was published on the eve of the release of the Quartet], this will be the most notable Skype release in five years of program history. But this does not mean that development will stop for at least a second. We are already working hard on the next version.
The first steps
June 18, 2008 was the day when Skype 4.0 for Windows was first introduced to the public, and the beginning of a completely new public beta-testing process for Skype. When working on previous versions, we released one beta, fixed bugs, and a “golden” version was released a month or two later.
This time we decided to use public beta not only to collect information about errors, but also to get feedback on the interface. In addition, we intended to bring to trial of this beta version not only experienced users, who up to this point made up the bulk of our beta testers. Therefore, in addition to the fact that we talked a lot about all three beta versions of Skype 4.0 for Windows on this blog, we also actively offered them to new and less experienced users, since they constitute a significant proportion of our total user base.
Do not forget that for many of these new users, the very idea of ​​using a computer for making calls might seem rather unusual, and by offering them (and other newbies) beta 4.0 we could get and measure the response of a much wider sample than what we used earlier, which also represented our user base as a whole much better.
Open Day
Reviews of the first beta were mixed, but we can not say that it came as a surprise to us . The changes made to the design of the application window were annoying for many - the reaction we wanted to provoke to understand exactly what experienced users like so much in the old interface, which is now called “Compact Mode”. This was the first time that Skype so openly approached the collection and processing of your feedback. As Skype product strategy director Mike Bartlet noted in a later blog post :
Different users give very different reviews. For example, in the Skype forums, where many of our most experienced users are chatting, we are faced with a lot of negativity, especially with regard to the size of the window. However, the research that we conducted suggests otherwise: more than 70% of respondents said they prefer the first beta interface over the old one.
Since the release of the first beta, we have received a total of 50,000 reviews, through polls, bug reports, as well as thousands of blogs, forums, tweets, etc. Our experience team, made up of designers and researchers, spent hours studying your comments, and we read absolutely everything we could find.
The usability team also personally met with Skype users to discuss the changes and improvements we could make to Skype, and in total we conducted more than 350 such sessions around the world.
Spotlight 4.0
We decided to focus on three main objectives when working on Skype 4.0: excellent call quality, improved video quality and ease of use. Given these priorities, we made strategic decisions on how to work with reviews, using quantitative evaluation to determine the priority of particular requests.
Work on the preparation of the second beta began in the summer of 2008, and it was released on October 1. The introduction of the ability to switch to “compact mode” satisfied the vast majority of those who complained about the new interface, and thanks to improvements in the notification system, it became easier to distinguish between incoming and missed calls and text messages - both of these changes our users asked us after testing the first beta.
')
Perfection
After the release of the second beta, we were able to prepare a third much faster - we used this opportunity to add some missing features, such as the full message history (history), and the update a little later provided an opportunity to see some unnoticed “outside” functions and features that officially debut in the final version.
They have been developed by Skype on their own over the past two years and demonstrate our commitment to innovation. When the final version of Skype 4.0 for Windows is uploaded to our servers for download [the original was published on the eve of the release of the Quartet], this will be the most notable Skype release in five years of program history. But this does not mean that development will stop for at least a second. We are already working hard on the next version.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/51043/
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