Microsoft has came up with a change to their Skype application video conferencing software, and this could be deemed as useful. The latest version of Skype called beta Skype has introduced a feature wherein you can enter a video call with up to 50 participants. This is a massive change from the current standard of beta Skype which has a maximum of 25 participants.
Although this feature may be something that an average home user will not be into, it is a feature that is useful for many business users as it means that they can hold meetings for free and accommodate more people.
This added feature is aimed to compete with the service called Zoom, this ability could be useful for companies and other businesses that are already using the products of Microsoft. For a better experience, once a group call has started and reached to the maximum of 50 people, notifications will be sent out instead of having to ring each participant individually. This means that the workflow of Skype users who were not able to join the large call won't be affected. The latest preview on Skype version also allows the audio and the video button on the large calls for added privacy, as well as the notification feature for smaller group calls.
The change on the features rolled out a few days ago, so if you have not updated your Skype to the latest version, now is the time to do it. For now, the large group video chat is only available for Skype beta testers, but they are planning to roll it out on a larger scale soon.
Upon announcing the increase in the number of participants in the Skype forums, Microsoft said:
"We are excited to announce two big changes to group calling in Skype. Before now, Skype only supported calls in groups up to 25 participants -- but today we are supporting calls in groups of up to 50! When you start a call in these large groups, it will send a notification instead of ringing all the members, to not interrupt those who can't join. With this update you will also see that the audio and video buttons are now enabled in these larger groups."
Skype has evolved a lot since it started in 2003, and they even received a feature recently that allows their users to blur out the background during their calls. Now integrated with the Windows 10, the service of Skype is growing and the popularity is increasing and Microsoft continues to add features that will give a positive overall experience to their users.
