Forum Discussion
add consumer skype contacts to skype for business Mac
Support for Skype contacts is not currently planned. We only plan for two quarters out, so it is not on the horizon for at least that long. We prioritize the features based on customer input, and support for Skype contacts has not been a prominent ask in our support channels.
Phil Garding
Hi Phillip,
I think Microsoft should make all of its products feature equal across platforms. Why wait for customer input? Microsoft's products are shifting to the cloud. In this light it shouldn't matter on which platform you are.
This was the answer of Jennifer a year ago: "This is something we know is important and is on our backlog. We can't comment on timing right now."
Please send out a clear message to customers, don't leave them hanging. A year ago it was important, now it isn't?
Don't get me wrong Phillip,
i'm a huge fan of Teams as i'm already TAP member and love how the product is evolving. But for the on-premises customers SfB2019 is a step backward, no Std Edition, the only possibility to get a persistent chat history will be removed. We must paused a project and switched to another IM tool, because most of the external user of the design agency used a Mac , and as we know the client don't support PersistenChat. So we exported the chat and "imported" this to another tool. So you won't get any user acceptance.
I've raised my finger to get into the SfB2019 TAP but you will surprise me if we get any cool new on-prem feature, and no, AzureVoicemail and Cloud Dashboard are not on-prem features.. :)
In Addition there are 10k voices on Uservoice regarding the chat history on the Windows Client and you told us for the Mac Client there will be a "new experience" but for the Million Windows user will still have the old odd feature? I've raised several tickets, asked in AMA Seasons about FileTransfer or Offline IM on the Mobile Client, all feature that every small IM Client has, but they will never come. Teams has this features, of course..
Cheers
Jörg
Microsoft is still supporting, and investing in, Skype for Business. It is true that we see Microsoft Teams as the next generation of communication and collaboration software and services, however, we have thousands of Skype for Business customers (and millions of users) who will continue to use Skype for Business for years to come. As you point out, we releasing a new server version soon with many fixes and features.
With respect to Skype for Business on Mac client, we have released monthly updates since it's initial launch and have continuously added features. (The What's New documentation can give you a history of our releases.) As with any engineering team, we have a certain capacity and cannot do everything at once. The best way to prioritize the work is to listen to customers, understand which features and fixes are most critical, and focus on those first. I assure you that I spend over half of my time talking to customers and responding to customer issues. In some cases, the priority of a feature can change over time. Adding Skype contacts is one such case, unfortunately.
I understand your disappointment at not having a feature that you want. I hope this gives you some context, at least, to understand how we make these product decisions.
Phil Garding
The whole "Skype for Business" world is dying, in the clound it's almost done and for On-prem it's on the way and thats the way MS wants it. With SfB 2019 Features are stripped down, the Clients won't get the same feature level. So don't expect any fantastic news in the SfB eco system.
