The tech giant is planning new features based on cloud tech

Oct 7, 2013 14:42 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft keeps investing in the Skype platform, so more new exciting features are said to be prepared for the upcoming months, including message synchronization across multiple devices and improved battery life for Windows tablets and mobile phones.

Basically, Redmond is no longer putting the focus on peer-to-peer technology and is now trying to move Skype entirely to the cloud, ignoring along the way all recent claims accusing the company of wiretapping conversations and sharing user data with US intelligence agencies.

While P2P communications was the foundation of Skype, Microsoft is now trying to reveal all advantages of a cloud-based system before implementing a new range of features in the app.

For example, Microsoft wants to introduce video and chat messages synchronization in Skype to let you access your conversation from more than one Windows device, and this won’t be possible without the cloud.

In addition, moving Skype to the cloud is basically the easiest way to improve battery life, as the device won’t need so much processing power, with all operations performed on Microsoft’s own servers.

“We will continue to invest in bringing new Skype scenarios online, putting the people who matter most to you just a click away. For example, in Outlook.com you can now connect through Skype without leaving your browser,” Microsoft explained.

“Our cloud will help preserve your device’s battery by enabling the mobile Skype app to stay in ‘sleep’ mode until you need it through the use of push notifications.”

Worried about your privacy once Skype embraces the cloud? Microsoft says you have no reason to do that, as it continues to be particularly focused on users’ privacy.

“We take our responsibilities with regard to this data seriously, and to help secure and protect it, we apply strong physical, technical and administrative security protections, only storing partial IP addresses and cryptographically hashing the Skype IDs we store to help protect our users’ privacy.”