The Skype client for Linux is unfortunately way behind its Windows counterpart. So far, only chat and phone functions are available for the free operating system; if you want video conferencing or "Skypecasts", the Windows client is your only choice. But it's even worse: until this week, Skype for Linux didn't even support the ALSA sound system that has been the common way of dealing with sound hardware on Linux for years.

Finally, Skype now released a beta version of Skype 1.3 for Linux with ALSA support. Additional to this desperately awaited feature, the Changelog contains a long list of bug fixes and functions letting Skype for Linux catch up at least a bit to its Windows sibling.