Skype Adds Video Support for Mac OS

Communications company Skype released a beta of its latest client for the Mac OS Wednesday, adding video support to the client that would permit cross-platform video calls. The company is only the second behind Yahoo to offer such a feature: video conferencing is notably missing from both the Mac AIM and MSN Messenger clients. As with the Windows version, video calls would be completely free.

According to Skype, the service hosts nearly 113 million users across both platforms. "Our community is made up of both Mac and Windows users," Skype product managemement director Stefan Oberg said. "We couldn't be more excited to bring these two groups together, literally face-to-face." The beta is available for download from the Skype Web site. In addition, the company said Wednesday it had also released Skype for Mac OS X 1.5 Gold.