Microsoft wants its users to experience what it calls "new seamless Skype video calling" as the company has announced on April 15 that it is now making Skype voice and video calling work plugin-free when they are using Microsoft Edge.
Thanks to the recently embedded Object Real-Time Communications (ORTC) media engine into the Microsoft Edge, the company is excited to announce that Skype for Web, Office Online, Outlook.com along with OneDrive now provide support for plugin-free and real-time video and group calling.
This means users of the app no longer need to download and install a plugin to successfully use Skype via Microsoft Edge. All they have to do is to sign into their accounts and they are good to go.
"Plugin-free calling in Edge is the first step towards an interoperable, standards-based calling experience in Skype and Skype for Business, so that Skype users on any modern platform can communicate without the need for plugins or downloads," says Kyle Pflug, Microsoft Edge's Program Manager.
With regard to the availability of the plugin-free calling beyond Microsoft Edge, the company says that it will also make seamless calling available to anyone down the road, not only to those who are using the Edge.
It hints that it will eventually expand to more browsers and platforms. For instance in Firefox and Chrome, the company says it is only waiting for these browsers to support the H.264 video codec.
Microsoft, though, presents a slew of issues that users should expect when using the Skype for Web plugin-free calling.
Right off the bat, this plugin-free calling is only enabled for the Edge browser on Windows 10 version 10.0.10586 and later.
Users will need to install a plugin so as to use a few other features, such as for calling mobiles and landlines and screen sharing.
Moreover, users also have to install a plugin when a participant does not use the most recent version of Skype.
To make things simple, users who are using Skype via Edge should have to ask the person they are calling to install or upgrade to the latest version of Skype on his device, and, of course, to use Skype for Web on Microsoft Edge.
VentureBeat reports that a company's spokesperson says that this preview of plugin-free Skype calls in Edge is being pushed out in waves and should be completed by the end of April.
Microsoft is asking users to visit its community page to provide their feedback or report a few issues they have encountered.
