Slashdot Mirror


Skype 1.0 For Windows Released, Updated Linux Beta

egjertse writes "Today Skype launches its free Skype for Windows Version 1.0 software, which includes SkypeOut, enabling Skype users to pre-pay and call any phone number in the world at highly competitive local rates. Also included in Skype 1.0 is a new file transfer feature and other software enhancements. New beta versions of Skype for Linux (Previous Slashdot Story) and Skype for Pocket PC with the SkypeOut feature are also available. Here are the release notes."

16 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Grrr by va3atc · · Score: 3, Informative

    But doesn't work on Windows 98/ME

    --
    Candle burns its brightest in the dark
    1. Re:Grrr by mhifoe · · Score: 3, Informative

      Version 0.98.0.28 works on Windows 98, but compatibility was broken in version 0.98.0.68.

  2. No OS X version? by revscat · · Score: 2, Informative

    This would be very handy to have on my Powerbook, but alas it seems no such beast exists. If it compiles under Linux, it shouldn't be too hard to do a straight port, even if it has to run under an X client instead of being a pretty Quartz app.

    Course, if they had used SWT this wouldn't be an issue.

    1. Re:No OS X version? by patvan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yesterday on macbidouille, they reported on this:

      "On June 16, 2004, there was an internal demonstration at Skype of the alpha version of Skype for MacOS. The alpha version worked well and the development team is working towards a beta launch of Skype for Mac. It will likely take about 2-3 months until release. When Skype for Mac is available, an email will be sent to you through Public Mind to let you know. Thanks for your patience."

  3. Re:Quality by BinaryWolf · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes I've been using it for quite some time now. The quality is excellent. Clearer than on the phone I think.

  4. Re:Quality by Sheetrock · · Score: 4, Informative
    Yes. Sound quality is surprisingly good, but there is an unavoidable delay that comes from the latency of the Internet (which has gotten better over the years -- a ping to ftp.funet.fi gives me a faster round trip time today than a ping to www.yahoo.com gave me two years ago).

    In a nutshell, you may irritate the people you're calling, but less so than if you used a cell phone.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  5. One thing I like about vonage. by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 2, Informative

    One thing I like about Vonage is that you are using a regular telephone (wired or cordless) with the system instead of being tied to a headset that is wired to your computer. There is a USB headset that is wireless. See here. I have not used it, but it is advertised and makes sense that there is a product. Also you might find something with Hello Direct

  6. Re:Any idea of pricing for the outbound calls by whyne · · Score: 1, Informative

    https://secure.skype.com/store/help.pricelist.html

  7. Re:How long until... by mnemoth_54 · · Score: 2, Informative

    not long, its allready been done.
    VoIP Wi-Fi Phone
    That one may not use skype, but its VOIP.

  8. Re:Important change by duguk · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, there is a new EULA http://www.skype.com/eula.html, but unless I'm seriously mistaken, it does not forbid you to make worldwide calls; it says: "Please note that you are not allowed to use the Skype Software and the Services in territories where offering or using such services is forbidden by law. By agreeing to this End User License Agreement, you will explicitly state that you have verified in your own territory if the offering and use of such services is allowed." That's usual. If I'm wrong though, please correct me! Dug

  9. Re:Important change by cching · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't see where it says that. I searched for world and call and didn't find any references that support what you're saying. Anyone else see it?

  10. Re:We need an Open Source Skype by wfberg · · Score: 2, Informative

    The clients on offer at free world dialup all support STUN for NAT traversal, and some (like X-ten) support speex.

    They're all preconfigured to use free world dialup if that's where you download them. Pretty much zeroconf. I think X-ten also does GSM codec (though it doesn't say whether it uses EFR).

    Too bad the default codec is G.721 muLaw (64 kbps, feh!).

    --
    SCO employee? Check out the bounty
  11. Re:Quality by MSBob · · Score: 3, Informative

    I call Eastern Europe with Skype all the time and most times voice quality is actually BETTER than with a phone conversation. The delay is almost unnoticable. Granted my parents who live there have a DSL line (it's a 512K DSL) and so do I. I heard that people with ISDN and even 56K dial up were getting very reasonable voice quality. Over DSL however, it's like talking to somebody in the same room.

    --
    Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
  12. Re:Malware? by magefile · · Score: 5, Informative

    As I understood it, these guys operated a "clean" Kazaa, and the malware only came in when Sharman Networks, or whatever it was called, took over. Am I misinformed?

  13. To use separate devices for sound input/output by sonicattack · · Score: 3, Informative

    As of Skype for Linux version 0.9.0.14, the options to configure the soundcard settings from inside the program are still missing.

    For those (like me) who use two different soundcards (webcam microphone + internal soundcard) for sound input and output, there's something called skype_dsp_hijacker, which uses an LD_PRELOAD trick to redirect sound I/O to another device. I wrote a small patch for this useful wrapper to enable use of separate devices.

    It's located at http://195.38.3.142/skype/
    Do tell me if you find it useful! :)

  14. Re:Malware? by owlstead · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nope, you are not misinformed. According to a Dutch television documentary the programmers did not want that to happen. A collegue, who handled the commercial part more or less, sold the program to an Australian company, without them knowing. Basically they were conned out of their business. After that the ads came in.

    This out the top of my head, since I don't have the documentary lying around. It was shown to me at the Copy=Right? festival of my ISP, XS4ALL (.nl).