Skype for Web Beta Goes Worldwide … and to Chromebook Users Too

Just ten days after it delivered a limited beta release of Skype for Web to customers in the US and UK, Microsoft has made the beta available worldwide. As interesting, perhaps, this release supports Chromebook and Linux, albeit in a limited form.

Microsoft issued its first public beta version of Skype for Web exactly 10 days ago, but that release was only available to uses in the US and UK, and it excluded ChromeOS users—i.e. those with Chromebooks or Chromeboxes.

Today, the software giant announced that Skype for Web Beta is available worldwide in the following languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, English, German, Greek, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional.

“Skype for Web is perfect if you normally use Skype on your mobile, but want to quickly get to your calls and IMs on a bigger screen,” Microsoft explains in a post to the Skype Garage & Updates blog. “Or perhaps you’re sitting at a Windows or Mac computer in an internet café or hotel that doesn’t already have Skype downloaded … we’re doing it because the hundreds of millions of people that visit Skype.com every month told us they want to call and IM when they visit our website. We know how critical it is for you to get to your conversations – and Skype for Web helps you get connected anytime.”

Instant messaging capabilities are available from any web browser, and this functionality now works in ChromeOS and in Chrome for Linux for the first time. Audio and video chat, however, require a plug-in, and these features only work with Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari and Firefox on PC or Mac.

Visit www.skype.com or web.skype.com to give it a try.