You can do a lot in a web browser, but until today you couldn’t Skype in one. Users in the U.S. and U.K. can now go to web.skype.com to place and recieve calls on the new Skype for Web beta service.
Microsoft announced Skype for Web last year, but this is the first time it’s available to the public. Upon login, Skype users will be greeted by their recent conversations. They can place a video or voice call, chat and even receive notifications just like the mobile and desktop apps.
While beta users can chat in any browser, the plugin required for video and audio calls is unavailable on Chrome for Mac and Chromebooks. However, Microsoft plans to support WebRTC, a standard for real-time communication across browsers, when the web app comes out of beta. That will bring Skype to Chromebooks for the first time.
