Is this fleesy product going to be shareware?
Damn it!
Why do all these damn companies think that blindies must pay pay pay pay pay them god damn money for everything they do.
I'm so sick of this crap!

Ok, sorry for the rant but this is making me more angry than you can probably imagine!
I don't know if it's anger, or just, I don't know, sadness?
As for skype for Windows, I used to not think it was very usable, but I guess it's pretty usuable from comments on here and from others I have talked to using Skypefor Windows.
I prefer skype on OS X though.

Seriusly, guys, please come down a bit or I'm forced to say something which I'll regret later on.
You hate the companies who are trying to make Facebook and other things accessible, because you have to pay for the products. I have told you that Skype and facebook are accessibel right out of the box, but you are still complaining. So, what exactly are your issues accept for you hate the companies who trys to make accessible alternatives? If you hate those products and companies so badly, just shut up, and don't use their products, and use the normal Skype and a combination of the normal Facebook page and the mobile page and you are good to go!
So please, shut up, take a deep breth,  don't use the products you hate, and learn how to use the normal interfaces. If other blind people world wide can do it, you can do it as well. But if complaining is all what you wanna do, I'm done here in the topic.
If you need any help with Facebook, please ask. I have been there myself regarding to Facebook. I was unable to set up my profile as I wanted to, and it all was out of control. But then they changed some things which made it more accessible, and I was up for learning how it works. I'm now using Facebook successfully, and I have made a group for danish, norwegian and swedish people for blind people, where we help each other and discusses Facebook accessibility. The group is not in english and will never be, because then some people wil be left out because they aren't good at english. But if people are interested, I could create an other group ment for english speaking people, which discusses the accessibility and offers help to better understand how it all works.
So, screw the blindy interfaces when you hate them so badly, and welcome to the real world!

I think that the Problem here is a bit different than some People might think.
I will say right now that I personally don't know if GW Connect or Skype had the better Interface (for blind users).
But as far as I got this, there was some Kind of Skype developer program which allowed GW Micro to develop GW Connect with some Kind of Skype Technology published for developers.
I don't know who used it, but I don't think that it was only one accessibility Company who used this Skype API.
Then I would want to ask why the said Technology was apparently dropped without reason.
I haven't seen or heard anything about a new developer package "just" replacing the dropped one...

And I'd like to say something about accessibility and web Services as well.
The fact is that lots of sighted People use smartphones or tablet PCs.
Many of them of course can Access the Internet.
However, many of them have their own Facebook Apps or apps for other Services.
But I am currently not sure how many Facebook Clients exist (for sighted People) on Mac or Windows.
But since most Messenger programs and probably Facebook Clients are free to use (non Commercial).
But then we have GW Social Eyes and the other Facebook component mentioned in this Topic.
Both are not free to use and that might be unfair because mobile devices might include alternate Clients for free or might be very cheap to buy.
If GW Social Eyes would cost a one time fee, People might be not so loud in voicing their dislike for GW Micro.
I mean, most programs including most Screen Readers Need only one payment of a fixed amound of Money and theoreticaly that's the end.
No Screen Reader works only for a year for you to pay again in the next year.
I know that some Screen Readers have payment plans or such things, but These are for People who can't pay the entire sum at once.
But if you were able to do so, this would be it for you.
If a new Version came out, then it would be a different matter, but that's the same for Mainstream Software as well.

Hello everyone.

Really guys? You're making a huge deal out of nothing. Things happen, this is one of those things that many people do not like.

I have to agree with SLJ here. Microsoft has threatened to stop Skype Kit for a long time now, yet people ignored it and stayed on GWConnect; and now that they really did take it down, people are complaining because they didn't move to the official Skype client, and therefore didn't learn it.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that when you're using what I like to call "a blindy client" That is, a client that acts as a substitution for a service that is out there that aims to either make the product more accessible, or improve upon the accessibility that is already there, you run the risk of the API that the client depends on being terminated.

This doesn't just go for clients of this sort; I was just using that as an example. Had people started to slowly migrate and learn the normal Skype client when Microsoft first gave the warning that the Skype Kit wouldn't be around much longer, we wouldn't be having this problem. If you want the keybindings that GWConnect offers, then all you need is an extension for Skype called Skype Talking. It does the same as gw connect, and I'd even say it does it far better than GWConnect ever did.

One more thing. They sell Social Eyes because they are a company, and companies need and want money. This is no different than going to say, the apple appstore, and buying the Facely client for facebook. The only reason it's different is because people are associating purchasing Social Eyes with the fact that assistive technology often carries a rather large price tag. Once again, I'm lead back to the point, if you don't like it, do not buy it. You cannot complain that you have to spend your money in order to access Facebook because this is in no way true. However, if Facebook were not accessible, and Social Eyes was the only way to use it, then yes, you could complain a little more.

To wrap up. If you don't like it, do not buy it. There is no one telling you that you have to use these products. Sit down for five or so minutes and learn the basics of the Skype client.

Why they charge so much money for the products is unknown to me. My issue is that people are talking like they have some ruling over GW Micro. Again if Facebook were not accessible, and required a client that would be a different story. As it is now though, facebook is completely accessible, so GW Social eyes has to be looked at as just another company trying to make money. It's certainly true that what they're asking is quite high being that it is a recurring payment but there's nothing that can be done about that. People will just have to use the already accessible facebook site, or a different client.

Back to the Skype thing. Microsoft again gave huge warning that the Skype Kit was about to be stopped. Probably about a year. There were dates when it was supposed to stop but it never did. People decided to ignore these warnings, and microsoft did finally pull the plug. This isn't the fault of GW Connect. Personally the only thing I'd say they were at fault for was charging for gw connect even after the first warning was issued. Sure there were other clients that used it, and the supporters of those clients are probably going through this exact same conversation right now.

Regardless of which client people use, they run the risk of it breaking, or no longer being supported since they are not officially created by the owning company. Facebook, for example has quite a number of clients so the risk of them cutting off their access to the service is probably pretty low. On the other hand, how many Skype clients do you see regularly. I can only think of 2, them being the two clients that try to provide an alternate accessible interface. The majority of other clients for Skype were created by Microsoft. for iOS, Linux, ETC. These are official clients supported so they probably won't be going anywhere. I don't know why they dropped Skype Kit. Maybe because it wasn't being used enough or maybe because they want everyone to use the official skype client. Either way, You can't undo it by yelling at GW Micro, nor Microsoft. People will just have to learn the real interfaces to these services, that everyone else has to use and that can be used by everyone just fine or find another alternative client that you like.

gw enemy hahahahahaha!

I hate you gwGLaDIOS or GWEnemy hahaha!

alrigt, I've seen something very discusting, and I'm not gonna stop myself from comenting. Luis, or Arabic, can you shut the heck up you stupid Panameño? cuzz you aren't arabic, you're panameño! and all you say is nonsencicle crap, all stupidity. saying things like I'm gonna kill GW makes you more idiotic and moron than what you are.
Sorry if I'm getting like this folks, but readin this gguy over and over and over again is pissing me off. I can't deal with it!
And well guys, I mean, there are a few things I agree and disagree with. I mean, regarding socialize and all these stuff, I don't even know if that product is having success. but we're always having alternatives to choose, some free, some payd. for facebook chat, for example, i use instantbird and it goes pretty nice, and it is very mainstream. and I was going to say something else, but I kind of forgot it

Dude, next time you react like this for no reason, I'm going to report you for doing so! This guy have not said anything at all in this topic which could get people to react like this. I mean, we don't care at all if you know him personally or not, and it just sounds like you have some internal issues, which should really be kept privately...
You're only going to get yourself into trouble by keeping flip out on people like this. Please, keep those private issues privately, and if you won't, I hope the moderators will take care of this. I don't think personal attacks like this are acceptable.

Jack:
Regarding the spam you're talking about: We can't blame people for what they are doing at other places than here on the forum. Let's say you knew me personally. I was a bad guy out in the town, messing it all up in the blind community. You saw me posting here on the forum where I play nicely, but you started to attack me for things I had done at other places than the forum. So in other words: We can only care about what people are doing here on the forum. I would have reacted the same way, also if I had seen the guy spamming at other places, because he have not spammed here on the forum yet. I hope it makes sense.

Regarding to the mobile site of Facebook, it matters what browser you're using. I'm using Safari on my Mac which works great. Others are using Internet Explorer which works better in some siturations, and they are getting a different page than me. I can get Safari to react like IE, so I'll get the same page. Others are using Firefox or Google chrome, and they might get a differetn page as well.
Yess, there are some features which is missing on the moble page. The normal Facebook page does work as well, but it takes a while to get used to. I'm using the normal page for managing groups, if I need to do something which doesn't work in the iPhone app.

Well put out, Clement and Slj. I am using skype, skype talking and the nvda addon and it works perfectly. Regarding the fb accessibility, well, we'll have to get used to using it with chrome and chrome vox. There are some people, though, who do prefer clients so they can leave it out of the way and use windows with it in the background, and react when events happen, one of the reasons I use the qube for twitter accessibility and don't bother with the website. But if web is the only free option, well, I guess it's something us client users will have to get used to, and is diverse depending on which browser you use.