Download Skype for Mac 2.8.0.438 Beta

Last week, a new beta release of the Mac OS X client of the voip program Skype was released with version number 2.8.0.438. The download is 41MB in size, but this is a Universal Binary. This program, which can be considered as beta2, is the successor to the first beta of the 2.8 series, which was released at the beginning of January. In version 2.8 a number of interesting new features have been added to the program, including Skype Access and desktop sharing. In addition, the quality of both the sound and the image has been improved and a number of bugs have been fixed. Below is what has been addressed in this release:

Changed:

• Spectator window for screen sharing
• My Account page embedded in the client

Bug fixed:

• Skype didn’t hide on OS X login
• Copy/paste from chats was not working correctly
• Sometimes Skype froze for a couple of seconds when starting or stopping screen sharing
• Screen sharing windows could be left on screen when a call was joined to a conference
• PiP didn’t appear in full screen when receiving screen sharing
• The overlay didn’t appear for fullscreen screen sharing and then the exit fullscreen button didn’t work
• Fullscreen mode would exit after a held call was resumed
• Call could not be ended after being redirected to voicemail
• The call window layout was broken if the dialpad was shown during a video call
• URLs inside brackets were not clickable
• Sometimes Skype crashed after deleting missed events without reading them
• Sometimes Skype Access sessions were not terminated properly
• Sometimes Skype Access session durations were not displayed accurately
• Sometimes extending a Skype Access session didn’t work as expected
• After signing in as another user, it was not possible to start a Skype Access session
• It was possible to start a new Skype Access session before previous one had finished
• Start Skype Access menu item was disabled when not signed in
• Skype Access session appeared in red after extending the session
• Sometimes there were two controversial messages about Skype Access availability
• Sometimes Skype crashed when leaving a chat
• History was not picking up display names from Address Book for text messages
• Text on screen sharing selection buttons was misaligned on Tiger
• Warning icon was not removed after extending online number
• After auto-recharge, balance pane had space on the right
• Fixed enabling of Quick Add button in text-only toolbar mode
• Sometimes (null) was added as a SkypeOut display name instead of the one specified
• ESC key now closes emoticon roster as it should
• Fixed text positioning on Tiger for screen sharing selection window buttons
• If remote contact cancels a file transfer then sometimes it still appeared as pending on the receiver side
• Do not set to status to away during screensaver when auto away is set to 0 minutes
• The PiP video could draw over Mute/Hold/Transfer overlays
• Fixed video toolbar button enabling for the case where there is no camera or video is disabled
• Fullscreen button and PiP views did not appear on Panther and Tiger if “keep call windows in front” option was turned on
• Fullscreen view was not displayed correctly when entering full screen from the screen sharing spectator window
• Multiple call windows were left open when calls failed
• Call overlay window could appear without the call window if the call window was minimized while the other party was starting video
• Fixed window resizing issues when the other party was starting and stopping video which occurred because the wrong window sizes were being stored in defaults
• Call window would resize incorrectly when the call was put on hold then resumed
• The call window’s fullscreen button could end up in the wrong position when exiting full screen while receiving screen sharing
• Call window resizes when entering and exiting full screen mode while receiving screen sharing
• Emoticon button rendered before the chat window
• Fixed double free error when exiting fullscreen using the escape key
• Fixed crash on chat close because overlay window was being double deallocated
• Fixed incorrect call window layout which sometimes occurred if the connection was dropped
• Window did not resize correctly when showing the dialpad (it could extend offscreen) if the computer had multiple displays
• Dialpad was not shown when exiting full screen
• Fixed bad volume slider layout in call window which could occur when answering a video call during an existing video call
• Fixed exception being thrown because emoticon button was observing a dealloced chat
• Fixed Quick Add window positioning when item was not first in the toolbar
• The Quick Add toolbar item appears pressed in all chat windows
• The dialpad could expand partially offscreen when it was shown, by moving the call window fully onscreen after the dialpad is shown
• The call window layout was broken if the toolbar was shown or hidden during a video call
• When assigning multiple contacts to groups screen refreshing was very slow
• Adjusted layout of Quick Add window and make sure it doesn’t run under the Dock when it’s on the left or right
• Added limits to the maximum width of the slider in the call window
• Removed a small visual glitch after reducing size of contact list
• Fixed small problem with rendering flags in chat
• After restart, second chat window didn’t remember its size and position
• Prevent the user from calling their own online number
• Chat window was not closed after database mount error

Improvements:

• Added Retry button to the Skype Access window
• Consistency with other Mac apps: added shortcut for Show Offline Contacts, moved Make Text commands to View menu, use Clear instead of Delete wording
• Improved enabling of the video and screen sharing buttons based on the receiver’s capabilities
• Improved toolbar button image rendering
• Improved new chat handling
• Some string adjustments
• Some internal optimizations and improvements
• Localizations updated

Skype API:

• Implemented get skypeversion
• Implemented: get chat x dialog_partner
• Open options command only accepted uppercase properties
• Implemented ping