Microsoft's Skype now works without plug-ins with Windows 10's Edge browser
Microsoft is moving toward making good on its promise to ultimately allow Skype to work plug-in-free.
On April 15, Microsoft announced Skype for Web, Outlook.com, Office Online and OneDrive now can do voice, video and group video calling without plug-ins when used with Windows 10's Edge browser.
The new capability is thanks to Edge using the ORTC media engine, officials said.
The first supported plug-in-free Skype scenarios include:
- All Skype one-to-one and group voice and video calls to and from Microsoft Edge browsers
- All Skype one-to-one calls from Microsoft Edge to the latest versions of Skype for Windows and Skype for Mac
Microsoft is still committed to providing plug-in-free Skype support on other browsers, officials reiterated in today's blog post.
"We will continue to work on enabling audio and video interoperability with Chrome and Firefox browsers, once they both support the H.264 video codec," the post said.
So that means still no updated word on exactly when Skype will work on Chromebooks....
The new Skype plug-in-free functionality is considered to be in preview at this point. It's enabled on Edge on Windows 10 Build 10.0.10586 (November update) and above. As Microsoft cautions, "some features like Screen sharing and Calling landlines and mobiles require you to install a plugin." Also: Users may be prompted to install a plug-in if the remote participant isn't using the latest version of Skype for desktop or mobile.