Skype's invitation to upgrade to their latest version is interesting! Based on the new features, I am suspecting that Skype is finally shifting the data into the cloud (hitherto stored on and fragmented across your computers), as I said for years they must do. The following features (requiring the new Skype client software) suggest this new cloud architecture:

• View your group chats and chat history across multiple devices. • Sync all messages across devices. • Group notification settings on one device will roam across all your devices.

As for the following item:

• Send and receive instant messages when your contacts are offline.

It's about time for this feature!!! As my friends all know, this has plagued me for years. (Though not recently anymore, since I simply abandoned Skype for such purposes.) Practically every other system was free of this problem. (Gmail's text chat works great, by the way.) ​ ​

Hartmut Sager