Since its debut on Linux last July, Skype's engineering team has been hard at work, fleshing out the open platform's features and making it more user-friendly. The team announced on Thursday, March 2 that it has made enough progress in recent months to warrant moving the program out of alpha build and into beta version 5.0., Engadget said.

Amid the various bug fixes and stabilizations, Skype for Linux is adding a bunch of features to make it more useful for everyday communication. For example, it can now make calls to both land and mobile lines using Skype Credits as well as make one-on-one video calls to other Skype platforms and share their desktops with them. Additionally, the UI will now display additional details like the number of unread conversations and whether people in your contacts have their Away and Do Not Disturb flags raised. You can download the new beta version from the Skype website, Engadget said.