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Skype Founder Interviewed On Engadget

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the because-voice-should-be-cheap dept.

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."

5 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. What I dont get... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ok, this lil program is closed-source but works with little lag, and decent sound.

    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 ;P )

    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).

    --
  2. Use a mobile phone, go next door by anti-NAT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

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    The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf
  3. Gnomemeeting does use UDP, by anti-NAT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Gnomemeeting does use UDP, by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      lock its "customers" into a proprietory VoIP network.

      Why does it look like everyone can't abide the concept of a software company making money - and this one on the service not the software, no less?

      The majority of the innovations in the software world come from people paid to innovate, or people figuring out how to make money innovating. I love open-source software as much as the next guy, but face it, most OSS is a copy of existing software: Linux, GIMP, Mozilla (from Mosaic), OpenOffice.org, etc. There is a purpose for proprietary software; even if you don't believe in it, that's no grounds to attack them just for being proprietary.

      Skype may have faults, but that's not (necessarily) a symptom of malicious intent.

  4. Re:Would you trust this guy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The invented fasttrack, not Kazaa. Thats like blaming the car companies for people drinking and driving. They sold their idea, then end purchaser choose what to do with it -- not them. Come on, we've been through this before.