Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac

Finally Skype has bought out an update to Skype so it no longer looks like it is running far behind the windows version.
The Beta is now public and available to download from the Skype site here.

Skype 5 for Mac new features:

Redesign
We've redesigned Skype Beta for Mac to make your life simpler. The new single window frees up your desktop and makes it easier than ever to find the contact or conversation you're looking for.

Effortless search
By integrating your Mac address book, it's easy to find the people you want to talk to.

Group video calling (beta)
Get together with more loved ones and colleagues than ever before over a group video call.

New call control bar
Manage calls from a mini Skype control bar that sits on top of any web pages, documents or photos you've got open.

The redesign has both good and bad features, good in the way that is is all in one window, which makes navigation easy, but bad in the way that you can't just have the chat window open which becomes a problem if you are using it on a small screen like a laptop and want to have different programs open side by side. The other problem with the redesign is the amount of blank space in the conversation window between messages, so it takes up a lot more space than is needed. The "whitespace" as Lifehacker calls it can easily be removed however by a nice plug-in from Pongsocket. The tutorial and plugin from Pongsocket can be found here, and handy tutorial video from Lifehacker can be viewed here.

The other features will be useful but the only other impressive one is the group video calling which I think will be great, and I am suprised they have taken so long to add it to their program, being beaten by iChat who don't even have much of a history in audio and video calling!