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Skype Founder Interviewed On Engadget
prostoalex writes "Niklas Zennström, the ever-elusive CEO of Skype, is interviewed by Engadget. Turns out Skype currently has more than 13 mln users in 200+ countries. The interview also discusses the future of Skype and VOIP applications in general."
It's free? Shit, and I already signed up for Vonage. =/
I'm unsure as to how VoIP is going to pan out. I think the ultimate killer-app for it would be the ability to be mobile and not restricted to the same elements as a regular land-line.
Their new slogan: "With a name like Skype you've gotta be good."
Has anyone tried Skype on Linux? Knowing our good friend here has a fetish for spyware (a la Kazaa) does it install adaware/spyware on Linux? Is nothing sacred anymore?
At home, I still have a regular phone line because I sometimes need to send faxes. At the office, we actually don't have a land phone line. We use Skype mostly, and mobile phones to receive calls from people not on Skype.
What about 911? How do you dial that without a landline?
Ok, this lil program is closed-source but works with little lag, and decent sound.
;P )
We know that there's nothing special about the audio, it's known.
We know that there's nothing different about the latency of the lines (software cant change network hardware on telco side
Can somebody explain why we couldnt do something like this by using UDP packets over a tunnel? GnomeMeeting should provide the rest..
TCP's the killer here. Drop it and you have less lag (no negotiate).
Ok, first of all, I must say:
:)
;)
I love Skype. Really.
Since I got it working I have been calling my family for affordable prises. It makes it possible for me to call my parents, my grandparents, my siblings in Norway, and allso Friends studying in other countries all over the world. And for this I love Skype..
But!!!
There is always a but.
Skype has introdused a rather strict paying system, and in fact, it markt me as a possible fraud, thus making it impossible for me to pay.
Why?
Because I managed to use my credit card in a country from which it didn't origin. And; I did this three times, thus blocking it for ever beeing used at Skype.
This is all well and fine, as Skype must secure themselves and their customers. BUT; They inform about this nowhere. In their questions and answers, not even in their live help. I spendt one week talking to customer support, trying to get things to work, but instead of beeing honest and tell me that, sorry, I don't think it is going to work they had me try again tomorrow.
At the end of the week they were nice enough to tell me that all IP's from Argentina was blocked. Too late
So. Allthough they provide a nice new service, they still lack in customer support.
All grudges aside, I had a friend in norway buy credits for me, and now I am a happy ignorant skype user
Here's another slogan:
The skype is the limit!
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
Besides access to a lot of cool technologies, it offerred one of the only places around where you could go & call out (albeit cryptically):
"Hey, anybody out there wanna talk to me right now?"
Of course, there were many more males prepared to jump the entry hurdles into Ham Radio, then as now.
But, today, we have Skype... Since September 2004, I've had the pleasure of meeting:
- a plastic surgeon (from India) in Israel
- a Palestinian woman in Jordan
- a Swedish-speaking student in the Far North of Sweden, with whom to practice my Swedish
... all via Skype!
;-/
I've also used a Kenwood TS-2000 HF / VHF / UHF transceiver remotely (it's a bit like the now dated JavaRadio, but with Transmit Capabilities for licensed Hams).
ALL I NEED TO KNOW IS:
What do I need to provide so as to be able to use Skype exclusively on an Intranet?
Has anybody done this -without- an Internet connection?
Skype seems a bit bloated though; the Windows executable weighs in at just over 10 MB. For a small VoIP application, I find this pretty rediculous. How could they possibly make it take up so much space?
I know we are supposed to forgive and forget but I will not trust this corp all that quickly considering how spywared up Kazaa was/is.
It is not so much about what Skype is now but what Skype might become, the company have shown us how much value they place on ethics and treating their customers with respect..
This "911" / emergency call issue is regularly rolled out as a "problem" with VoIP, due to the concern about the perceived lack of reliablity of IP based networks. While it is legitimate to address it, I don't think it is the issue it is made out to be.
If you consider what life was like 20 years ago, each house only had one land line, and all the land lines in the neighbourhood were attached to the same exchange. From the individual end user's point of view, there was no redundancy at all. If your land line failed, you couldn't go next door to use your neighbour's phone in an emergency, as their's was dead too. All you could do was jump in your car and go to the hospital, police station or firehouse.
Today, not only do we still have traditional land lines, we also have cell / mobile phones, and we still have cars. If we add VoIP into the mix, in sum, we have significantly more available "emergency communcations" resources as individuals than we did 20 years ago. That's why I don't think "911" / emergency call services is the issue it is made out to be when thinking about deploying VoIP.
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
They (or somebody) sold a cordless handset.
On their shop they sell a "CyberPhone":
"Plugged into the USB port of your PC / laptop, you can chat using the Cyberphone just as you would on a normal telephone. "
Cool. But it still means I have to be at my PC to make/receive calls.
Hey Skype: sell cordless CyberPhones and you're on!
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
and if you're referring to using UDP over tunnels to get around the problems NAT causes, look up "NAT traversal" in google. It is being introduced to both IPsec and SIP.
Skype doesn't do anything special, other than lock its "customers" into a proprietory VoIP network.
I think skype will kill itself.
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
I've worked for Ericsson and the exchanges they had 20 years ago had redundancy built in and their own powersource.
If you took out the whole building (flood, tornado, bomb) you'd lose your line. But it was still pretty resilient.
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
Wow, that's really extra terrestial, as I thought that ther are only 192 international recognised countries !
Just give us the Palm OS port already.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
A version of Skype for PalmOS PDA's was forthcoming, but now it looks like it may not surface. This REALLY sucks, because it would rock on my Tungsten C. Probably won't happen because the numbers probably aren't there, but it would still be a great app...
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
here we go. Another plug for Engadget. Not to troll, but seriously, I have Engadget in my RSS feed, I don't need to see another plug here. If this continues, I have a feeling the Slashdot community might turn Engadget into the next Jon Katz...
Skype is a pretty cool system. I've used it a couple of times and found it to be pleasant. However, I'm shocked that so many people vote to use it since its a closed source project from a company who shows how much they value their customers by including spyware in their products.
The sad part is that VoIP is better. I'll grant skype has fewer issues with latency, but with a decent internet connection you can get awesome audio quality from a well configured Asterisk box.
I'll vote with my wallet. When skype goes open source I'll contribute, otherwise I'll stick to Asterisk, and the ability to create/control my own system. I'd rather the new era in telephony is owned by users rather than a corporation with questionable values.
Now where's my chequebook.. I suddenly feel a need to buy a PocketPC...
Yes? If so it's hardly "spyware" in the sense of "something that is running without you knowing about and doing nasty stuff".
So I'm not quite sure what the big deal is here.
I mean, I was using VocalTec's Internet Phone in '96, and really, given todays general ample bandwidth, I don't understand why Skype is so big. I've seen Fortune articles on it, and this guys name used with some sort of business-man's reverence.
Once you get past the novelty of talking to random people by voice over the Internet, the novelty wears off, and all you've got is a VOIP that you can't actually use real phone with (granted, the end party can).
I have a Vonage line at home, and that form of VOIP seems all that much more interesting, if only because they've bridged the software/hardware gap. Is this really that much different from video chat, other than the fact that you can call to a MeatSpace phone (or is that the Big Deal?)?
Q: What do you think about American Culture?
A: I think it's a good idea.
(adapted from Gandhi)
It's nearly impossible to buy SkypeOut credit for a lot of users, who turn to other solutions only because they can't get a transaction through.
If only Skype did accept PayPal in addition to the (too) few credit cards they accept, their business would surely increase manyfolds.
My credit card was also rejected because I'm living in Japan. Why can't they just accept paypal payments?
V O T E F O R M O G
EG: Hi Hello? ...and now is that better? /. I could go on but you get the idea.
CEO:Anyone there?
EG: Can you hear me?
CEO: Yes I hear you loud and clear!
EG: Great! So this is the first Voip app that "Just Works"?
CEO: What? Can you repeat that.
EG: I SAID THIS IS THE FIRST VOIP APP THAT "JUST WORKS"
CEO: Nope. Didn't get that try adjusting your mic.
EG: MMMmm ok, do you hear me now?
CEO: OOoh yeah thats nice and clear but getting a little echo, try turning down the speakers a little.
EG: Righty ho
CEO: I said try turning down your speakers.. ok thats good.
EG: OK, the great thing about Skype is that it "just works" right?
CEO: Yes.
EG: Do you think that Voip and Skype especially will be bext big thing after P2P?
CEO: Yeah! Thats absolutely right Skype is the BEST in tech thats so easy to use your grandma can use it.
EG: Err OK? Do you include any spyware or malware in Skype?
CEO: You Bet! Skype will be on every platform from windows to hand held pcs. There's just no excuse anymore even linux users can join the fun.
EG: Rigghht. So you're sure you'll be a success?
CEO: What! No way! We would never do anything like that ever!
Hey
1- You can't receive calls from land lines, traditional VOIP services or cell phones
2- No location awareness and No 911
3- You can't use your land lines or cordless phones
4- WiFi just isn't pervasive enough...Yet
5- You can't take your address book with you
In the meantime, I keep my cell phone.
in his dreams
but in the last year, I have probably had almost a month of total downtime, twice the length of downtime was almost a week. I don't live in the boondocks either, my ISP, a national cable provider here is based in the city I live in.
I don't think that is an inherent limitation of the technology, I think that is a limitation of the people deploying the technology. In my experience, a higher than acceptable number of network engineers don't treat the network as carefully as they should. They take somewhat of a "maverick" approach - their ego regarding their level of skills exceeds their care for continued service availability for their customers.
Cisco abandoned a slogan a while back which I thought was great, and is my philosophy on how a network should be designed and run - "The network works, no excuses." The goal should be that faults in a network should never be attributable to a human, if they are, that indicates a lack of planning and care in managing and operating the network.
Sadly, in reality, humans are the greatest cause of network faults. According to RFC 3439 - Some Internet Architectural Guidelines and Philosophy, "... 80% of unscheduled outages are caused by people or process errors [SCOTT]". The best way to run a network is to only "touch" it when you absolutely have to, and question whether that "touching" is necessary twice - much like the old carpenter's saying, "measure twice, cut once".
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
How did we get some wierd sort of n-dimensional internet capable of several times it's own capacity! ? And is there a RealLife version of this that'd let me only show up for 2 hours per workday?
skype is pretty good generally and having an old bell type telephone sound coming from your nearly sleeping laptop is kinda cool although it often finishes up with skype user places call, ends call, you call 'em back :)
... and also claims the transfer wouldnt be possible by other means -not true in the slightest as my mac using friend uses ichat to connect to my aim client on the pc and file transfers are quick.
:)
The quality is generally pretty good and will normally go for a few hours before needing to place the call again.
the instant messaging is great for placing urls when searching for useful sites with your friends.
the file transfers can be terribly slow 0.5 kbs the help documentation blames it on firewalls nat routers
but the file transfers on skype claim to be encrypted end to end so it might be slow but worthwhile.
They havent integrated video yet which would be nice. cross platform messaging in general seems to be limited usually to text only(aim to ichat the video option doesnt seem to work). even when voice is available with msn to msn for example the delay is noticeable and skype really doesnt have a noticeable delay at all.
hopefully skype will evolve to include video chatting and conferencing options.
I would probably use skype out if i could buy vouchers and that i couldnt buy a normal telephone calling card as cheap or cheaper.
If you havent tried it yet do so before your favourite name gets taken
and then use a head set.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
heard all the hoopla about skype a while ago, went to their site, bought talktime worth 10 euros, only been able to make 1 international call...sound quality was too pathetic...not only that...every single call since then hasn't gone through. nopes, the thing just can't dial. I hope skype would have been this great service it was touted to be...but it ain't.
or would you prefer to only be able to use Sony batteries in your Sony devices, Ford petrol (gasoline) in your Ford car, etc.
I'm certainly pro-open source, however, I think open standards are far, far more important than the open / closed source issue. If the best tool for the job is closed source, that's fine. I use closed source Adobe Acrobat under Linux rather than xpdf, as I find it better and quicker to use. I would abandon Adobe Acrobat if Adobe closed the PDF specification though, as the open specs of PDF are more important to me than the Adobe Acrobat software itself.
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
For that matter, is there any reason to restrict it to the "standard" authorities? What about some sort of broadcast topology, so that someone can send their identity, location, and situation to any number of clients -- police agencies, fire stations, hospitals, Coast Guard -- who can watch for emergency traffic within their geographical region.
In short, we need some sort of standardized, generic method for issuing a distress call over IP. Morse code has had SOS for almost a century now, yet IP has no equivalent (so far as I know).
Tonight I'm due to test out Skype with my boss, but what excites me more is using my bluetooth mobile phone hooked up to my PC where it is configured to pump all audio out of my mobile and receive all sounds via my mobile. So, I get to walk around and speak on a phone as normal.
Only downside is the distance limit of bluetooth. Now where was that article I read about extending bluetooth to well over 100 metres. Hmmm...
They've had enormous issues with SkypeOut, related to people being able to pay. Check the forums, there's no end of bitching about their CC clearing company. I never even managed to get so much as $10 worth of credit, despite correct CCV and everything, it just decided to decline to serve me.
The support leaves a great deal to be desired as well, they seem badly informed about this issue in particular and utterly unable to provide any kind of solution to the problem short of hoping your get bored and go away. I suspect that until they put some serious pressure on the people validating the credit cards for them, it will be more of the same.
I can use my CC to purchase stuff all over the 'net, but not 10 measly dollars of SkypeOut credit.
You can't win a fight.
You can blame it on whomever you want, the fact remains that the Internet is a very unreliable network by the time you get to end users, and the users are not going to stand for it.
If you are so unhappy with it, why are you still using it ?
'them young whipper-snappers.'
My comments about ego being greater than care factor are independent of age.
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
It might, it might not. I don't have the code, so I can't tell you. But I'll tell you this: I'll bet Claria "doesn't" contain any advertising or spyware either. It just depends on who's talking.
joshua
I've just ordered a phone adapter from sipphone.com.
I'm not a big Michael Robertson fan, but I think he has a good thinig going.
You can call any sip user for free.
You can use a hardware or software solution. (including Asterix)
You can call PTSN's at 1.9 cents/min.
No monthly fees.
I'm impressed.
Keln
kelntaylor > gmail.com
Open standard? PSTN via SkypeOut. If you want to call into the Skype network, set up your own interface.
I have a NAT firewall, and so does my friend. Somehow we're both able to use Skype without changing our firewall setups. How is this possible? I thought P2P had to connect direct to each other, but most other programs require some changes to the firewall to open ports. I don't remember configuring any incoming ports for Skype.
Can someone who understands Skype and TCP/IP explain how it works? I know code, not networking.
PSTN via SkypeOut.
So if I wanted to make an Internet-only call, are you suggesting I should have my call hop off the Internet onto the PSTN (open standard VoIP -> open standard PSTN), then from the PSTN back on to the Internet (open standard PSTN -> proprietory Skype), just to talk from an open standard Internet VoIP end point ? Do you really expect me to throw away the cost benefits of Internet telephony just to support Skype's proprietory VoIP ? Have you bought into the Skype technology so much such that you are willing to ignore the major advantage of VoIP, that being reduced call costs ? I think that's what the definition of a "zealot" might be - somebody who believes in something so much that they are willing to ignore the reality of why something exists in the first place.
By the way, I'm the only supplier of Sony batteries in the world for your Sony goods, and because I'm the sole supplier, I've decided to sell them for $40 each. They might look like AAs, but you can only use Sony ones in your Sony devices, because the Sony ones have a special Sony-only interface (I'm picking on Sony because their memory stick technolgy is proprietory, yet an open standard equivalent exists). What sort of car do you drive, as I may be the sole, world-wide provider of petrol / gasoline for it as well.
The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
[Posting as AC because I don't want to lose moderations done here. Annoying moderation system...]
I think you'll have to use a program like GnomeMeeting on your internal network. Don't think Skype will work when it can't log into the Skype servers.
Congratulations! You've discovered the Slashdot theme! For anybody watching from the sidelines, the Slashdot theme is, "It's not useful to me, therefore it's not useful to anybody." Well done!
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
http://www.asterisk.org
YOU. DO. NOT. WANT. SKYPE. For internal use. Asterisk is a full featured softswitch/pbx and can use *ANY* SIP client device (dozens of softphones out there, and tons of hardware).
FYI iirc skype uses the speex codec, which asterisk supports (and so do many softphones).
And which would those be? UN membership is currently at 192. By all standards Taiwan is independent, making a total 193. Help me with the missing eight...
Michael Powell called them "the inventors of Kazaa" and, instead of correcting that, they quoted him here on their site. And then, on their own "founders" page, the first sentence is "Skype was created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, founders of KaZaA -- the world's most popular Internet software".
There are more examples, of course, but since this was incorrectly deemed 'informative', I felt the need to point out that it is 'misinformative'.
The truth doesn't care what I think.
Hey, why do I keep getting this sound of 'HYPE' when I read all these stuff on Skype?? In what extreme way does skype differ from vocaltec's internet phone of the last decade? How long will this borrowed aura from Kazaa power skype is left to be seen!
Read the comments on the interview page. There's a link to www.phoneconnector.com, which sells a usb linkup to any phone (including cordless). I'm seriously tempted to buy that now....
But seriously, my major problem with Skype is an inability to only receive calls from people that are on your list (why that list isn't centrally stored is another mystery).
Yes, they can be blocked, but normally it's not repeated callers, it's different people every time. I want people to be on the blacklist until I've added them, much like IM works.
I did the overseas voter registration and I was truly puzzled about how fax was considered secure enough to vote while e-mail was not. Curiously, they would send me the materials as PDF attachments and then I could print them and up to that point there was no problem. But when it was time to send it back it had to be a fax. I don't get it. I could have printed it and scanned it and sent it back, but that was unacceptable. What's the difference?
In my opinion, integrating voice and video into a single application is really not essential and tends to lead to fairly troublesome results. Eventually it will work and the solution will be free and open and common. But for now it is simpler to keep the video and audio separated. The results are far more rewarding in my opinion, especially if you're dealing with people who have different connectivity on the other side like family memebers.
If you want voice and video I think the best way is to simply use a dedicated voice program that works, or even just a phone with a calling card, because this is the part of the link-up that absolutely cannot accept delays. The video is the less important part because even very slow refreshes are acceptable as long as the sound is unbroken. After all, as long as you have voice contact, you can explain the video problems. Try doing it the other way around. I know I have. It's fun the first few times, but it gets old fast.
So, once you have the audio all squared away, you can just add a conventional web cam that has no audio stream and simply tell the URL of your server the person you are calling. That way no matter what happens with the video you've still got audio. I've found this to be a far, far better solution than any all-in-one package where a video crash kills the audio too. That can be too frustrating especially for the less geeked out family members.
Of course I'm talking about calling family members for fun rather than a dedicated work situation where you can guarantee both ends. But if you're in that position, then you don't need any advice I suppose.
VoIP is pretty much pointless for the US, since you mostly only have the one-time charge of a few cents, and then unlimited calling time.
For other nations, telephone calls are by the second, usually at something like E0.10-0.20 per minute for a mobile phone. Voice over IP is a great fix.
Also, it'll allow cable companies to offer phone services. Whether this is good or bad, I dunno, though I'm leaning towards 'good'.
Wake up, oh ignorant one.
I call regular phone numbers from my computer using any of 10 providers. Using standard, open protocols (IAX2 and SIP). Sorry, the rates are not the same as SkypeOut. They are substantially cheaper.
I discovered that Stanaphone's rates page simply doesn't like Safari. It works fine in FireFox.
They charge 2 cents a minute to the US and France, or 20 cents a minute to a cell phone in France. They charge 3 cents a minute to China.
At the today's exchange rate, Skype charges 2.2 cents a minute to the US and France, 21 cents a minute to a cell phone in France, and 2.8 cents a minute to China.
Skype looks pretty competitive to me based on its rates. Are there VoIP providers out there that are significantly cheaper than this?
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Can someone make a slashdot that doesn't have 80% whiner posts? kthx.
Just because it runs on Linux and has low-bandwidth voice codec as default? Personally I like X-Lite better. It runs behind firewall fine, can use the same codecs as Skype, can connect to any POTS gateway not just a single one, has a much nicer GUI. Not to mention IP phone devices.
I don't know about "disconnected" landline phones, but unactivated mobiles have no trouble dialing 911 in the States.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
An accurate, well researched post with supporting evidence. And it languishes unnoticed while it's own parent with no supporting facts to its claims is moderated up high.
Is it just me, or is something wrong here? Someone mod it up.
I'm unsure as to how VoIP is going to pan out. I think the ultimate killer-app for it would be the ability to be mobile and not restricted to the same elements as a regular land-line.
To answer a question like this, it's important to understand what voip actually is and what it's not
- Voip is not skype, or vonage or any other 'PC phone systems' -Theses are all simply applications of voip.
Voip is actually a lot simpler in concept - It's just a different way of carrying voice - And it's carrying voice over IP networks, instead of the traditional dedicated single purpose voice circuits of the past, like your home phone (PSTN) line, or an E1 PRI digital circuit.
Thats it. Nothing magical, or something that needs to be proved.
The 'Killer App' for Voip is the ability to transfer data over the existing ubiqitous IP data networks, and the fact that both voice and data can coexist on the same network.
It's already being used all over the place, from the large scale carriers to small software applications running on your PC.
It's only a matter of time before everything is voip - Though it's likely you won't even notice. The handset on your desk at work, your home phone, will all be Voip one day soon - They'll look like an normal phone, and be used like a normal phone - It's just that they won't be connected by that analog circuit any more.
It's here. Embrace it.
Two words:
Better marketing.