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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."
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
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?
"We use Skype mostly, and mobile phones to receive calls from people not on Skype."
Miss Cleo told me that they use mobile phones to call 911.
No, really--did you even read that quote you cut-n-paste'd?
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..
I've been using it for quite some time and i didn't notice anything unusual about the system.
:/ Can't get mummy out of that microfone! Damn!
And mind you, i don't ware a tinfoil hat but i've runned lsof, tcpdump, etherreal, netstat and so on on the quest to find any suspicious behavior.
The only problem with skype is that it will decrese your telefone bill but it will *rocket sky* your telefone time
They invented the fasttrck network and not the spyware infested Kazaa as we know it today. Skype is Spyware free and is also a fantastic piece of software. I am in regular contact with a few of my friends overseas no that we all use Skype as we often talk whenever we see each other online. Before Skype we very rarely used the landline to chat. Skype also just works. Doens't matter if you are behind NAT it just works without any port fowarding or configuration. Trying to get the audio option to work on MSN messanger is a nightmare and just not worth it if one or especially both of you are behind NAT.
There is a skype for pocket pc as long as you are in range of wifi...
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?"
Hopefully, on day, someone will devise a plan that puts a number of radio antennas spaced every few miles across populated areas. The area covered by each antenna could be called a "cell". Each would be connected back to a single operator of some sort, tying them all together.
With this antenna infrastructure in place, maybe we can then possibly have phones that make use of these antennas. We could call them "cellular phones", meaning that they are of the antenna cells.
The operator of the antenna infrastructure could then link their network with the local baby-bell's network, allowing user's of these radical new "cellular phones" to talk to people who have existing land lines.
I can't wait until someone implements this idea. I think it's be pretty spiffy to be able to carry a phone with me that I can use most anywhere, any time.
Imagine, being able to talk to someone on the phone while out at the movies! Or while driving! The future holds such promise!
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
From the FAQ
http://www.skype.com/help/faq/index.html
Does Skype contain any advertising or spyware?
No.
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 !
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)
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
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
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?
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).
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.
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.