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Microsoft to Launch "Skype Killer"
TheChillPill writes "Microsoft is due to announce the launch of a service to rival Skype following the acquision of VoIP provider Teleo.
While a crude version of VoIP is already included in most Instant Messaging programs, Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones.
Microsoft intends to launch the service by the end of the year. "
In the old days, an announcement like this would have been an instant death blow to the competing company. I am happy to note these days it is a relative non-event. This is not to say Microsoft's entry into a market cannot have a significant impact. But gone are the good old days where Microsoft simply had to announce some vaporware to stop a competitor in their tracks. From that perspective, things are better today than they used to be.
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
Thanks but no thanks.
Skype works great on my Suse box. The M$ program never will see the light of day on any of my machines.
Microsoft intends to launch the service by the end of the year.
Why not wait until the end of the year to make an announcement when it will be news? Anything more than that is free advertising for something that doesn't exist. *sigh*
Speak truth to power.
Thats not entirely accurate. British Telecom have an add-on to Yahoo messenger that allows calls to landlines and cellphones.
As reactions here would probably be ignoring skype, praising google and bashing microsoft I suggest somebody make an unbiased comparison of all services and release their results here. (unbiased? slashdot?)
Does anyone have any review info on Teleo? I would expect the service to be of simial quality to what Teleo did with a Microsoft look.
Evolution or ID?
Wasn't there a web site that let you place calls from a VOIP client to a landline, free, about 4 or 5 years ago? I remember it had a short queue, and showed some ads in the dialer application (presumably to fund the service), but it was a fairly clear signal and sounded fine even with my crummy $20 headset mic rig. I can't remember what it was called though... I saved a ton of long distance money through it in college.
... when it runs on Mac's and Linux boxes. Or, runs on anything other than soon-to-be-released-honest MS operating systems.
Oh, really? What happened to all the H.323 and SIP based services? Did they all vanish?
Yeah, straight from the old page "Anything you can do I can do better!" Ya gotta hand to M$, they stick to their playbook.
It is so funny, they seem so determined to spread their plague to ever corner of IT but in the end all MS every does is reduce choice and that was the one thing Windows really had going for it. Now a typical PC will have what, MS Windows, MS Office and ummm, some games, oh and lots of anti virus and anti spyware software, but then MS makes all that now, and now they want another market.
:-(
It is funny though that the con(ned)sumers are still swayed by the MS name. I have heard people in shops debating over buying a mouse for instance and plumped for the MS one because it was Microsoft and therefore would be compatible with their PC. For this reason alone I expect MS' move into telephony to be a raging success
I just wonder how hard they will try the old embrace, extend, extinguish tactic this time?
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones
/.
What about the Gizmo project, which I believe I first saw mentioned right here on
Arnar
This looks to be another great example of a Microsoft product dominating because users don't know or care enough to stray from the software that comes with their computer.
Will people choose Skype when they already have an MS VoIP icon on their desktop? I'm curious.
On the upside MS could at least be "legitimizing" VoIP for the common user, and maybe Skype et al can benefit from some positive association with an MS product and its heavy marketing.
The president has been kidnapped by ninjas!
Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?
You're thinking like a geek. $10 bucks says most people's mothers who use MSN already (like those that use Yahoo, ICQ, AOL, etc) will use the service that pops up and says "Would you like to make a voice call to 'Your son in Italy' for only $10/mo". Probably saying to themselves: "A monkey is asking for my credit card number... That seems fair."
This is the world we live in. We talk about marketing being just FUD, but it's really not. People buy whatever people sell. I've seen funny stuff on infomercials that people obviously buy (a vacuum that sucks up your hair and cuts it with a blade inside the vacuum attachment- this was in the 'cut your hair at home' stage of the late 80's).
People will buy what seems reasonable and what you tell them to buy. Ask any marketing student. 99% of the market is uneducated as to what Skype is. Vonage has only made such headway through significant marketing, which M$ could outdo anyday... and who wouldn't switch to a M$ product that already runs their office, home, and play communications needs?
M$ integrates an ad and the feature into MSN Messenger, and they'll instantly have a LOT of people. No having to download additional software, no setup, no confusing additional software that may or may not hurt your computer... just works.
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
Skyp eis not the only one that allows landlines. Gizmo does too.
I hope Skype doesn't make the same mistake as every other company that tried to beat Microsoft at their own game. The best strategy for skype in a battle like this is play by their own rules. Specifically, they should completely open their protocol. If they try to pit one proprietary solution against a Microsoft proprietary solution, they will lose.
I'm tired of using "killer" for this stuff in general. It never really is a "killer" application, no matter what it is. Once an application is so wide spread that rivals need to be called "killer" it's rather obvious that that's not going to happen. Unless the dominant company is asleep at the switch that is. Otherwise, it's just marketing buzz. Skype is not going to be killed any time soon, all thats going to happen is Microsoft spends money.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I love how Microsoft is starting to feel threatened by everything. Bring on competition.
[%] Cingular Ringtones
I'm curious how tightly/predominantly this is going to be bundled into Longhorn. I suspect that Microsoft VoIP on the desktop is one of the features that will ship on time.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Just like MSN is currently killing google?
Microsoft Plans Telephone Service
Microsoft is preparing to enable computer users to make a normal phone call from their PC. The computer giant has increased its presence in the fast-growing internet phone sector by purchasing leading player Teleo for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft and rivals AOL, Google and Yahoo all currently allow phone calls between computers, but not yet to a domestic or mobile handset. Teleo's technology allows computers to make and receive standard phone calls.
Instant-messaging
Yahoo is also in the process of introducing such a system, after it bought internet phone company Dialpad two months ago. Microsoft currently uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology in a number of its products, including its instant-messaging service. The US software firm said it planned to incorporate California-based Teleo's telephone service into its instant messaging service. Microsoft said it hoped to achieve this by the end of the year.
The president has been kidnapped by ninjas!
Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?
We all remember the plans for the Ipod killer, and what's that? Ipod is still the standard? Wow!
I seem to remember getting my first edition of windows 98 packaged, installing it, and seeing that the had a built in feature to place calls through your modem line, which somehow they had left enabled by default to be able to make long distance calls.....this was rectified in the second edition of windows 98....
I used to be able to call my friends in new york from canada for free....what ever happened to those good old days? I have been using skype religiously although without the skype in / out features...as they cost money, but i much prefer thinking that i dont need proxy servers to use my connection seeing as skype on a basic level is a p2p software....
I tend to think if microsoft where to really want to kick butt....they would have to go along ways like google to offer anything worthwhile.... atleast google is making an effort to roll everything into one virtual distribution....google dark fiber for free internet...then free telephones...then free library eBooks....then....hey wait....who has the monopoly again???
Has microsoft had an original idea in years? I'm not one to bash microsoft usually, but it seems like now every time I hear about them in the news, its because they bought up some small company, or are launching a service that is already available. I wish they would stick to what they do best/alright OS and office software. They need to stop trying to control every piece of the computing experience, it makes them look more evil.
forty-two
1) Phone (private) ...
:-(
2) Phone (work)
3) Cellphone
4) Skype
5) Proprietary-M$-Skype
6)
And they're all ringing..
...and it's called NetMeeting.
MS already had a chance with netmeeting, but they blew it when they decided to hide netmeeting (activated by running "conf" at the run prompt) in attempts to push their non-standard protocol in msn messenger.
-Alex. http://bit.ly/1iVPtfA
Google has a great strategy for bleeding out Microsoft.
--- Nothing clever here: move along now...
Microsoft has a way of creating marketshare. I never understood why people left ICQ for MSN Messenger (I have to switch to writing an email cause my friend isn't online?!), but i expect the same might happen with this kind of application.
Sample this!
microsoft is spreading themselves a little thin.
they can't even produce a secure simple os - I mean when you just buy windows what do you get. nothing but a bunch of open ports, a few games, and wordpad. why don't they spend some money on making ie standards compliant.
I can't believe no-one's suggested this yet. Maybe because it's a really weak joke.
I agree... the MS app will never be on my laptop, desktop or handheld.
However I would not be surprised if my mother installed it on her laptop.
And that is where it will get weird. Skype isn't going to inter-operate, nor will MS. Both will protect their own walled gardens.
Strangely, I foresee that traditional landlines and the ability to call and receive over them may actually remain the bridge between them.
My mother would dial my SkypeIn number (whichever of mine is closest to her) and I will receive on Skype. I would dial her MS number and she would receive on MS.
The crazy thing, is that all this VOIP would at some point get routed via traditional networks, and instead of being free will incur low charges which helps protects the business models of those telecoms companies.
Low charges are not much in comparison to traditional costs, but it seems that there isn't room for multiple vendors in a VOIP market if free or almost free is the goal of the users using it. Not unless the clients from both sides can call each other natively (as if!).
As a customer I will be urging anyone who asks to go Skype to ensure my costs remain low.
I read this story this morning (London time) in the FT on my way into work.
When I read a classic Slashdot story like this in a print publication 8 hours before it appears on Slashdot, then it says to me that Slashdot's going seriously downhill...
skype isnt the only one, at least one more major program can do it also:
voipbuster also allow net2phone connections (and even free for some european countries!!)
there is also a manual to work with linux
but there are more, at least around here (portugal/europe) http://voip.necty.com/ its also testing a voip to phone and it use kaix as its oficial client (so both windows and linux works fine)
Higuita
Messenger can do VoiP already not news, just Skype does it better, I guess they just bought that company to add VoiP to nomal telephone functionality?
Mac toys and accessories blog
Monopolies were controlled for this very reason. The law, as it used to be enforced before the Federalist Society takedown of the judiciary, was intended to prevent a monopoly in one area to enable a company to create new monopolies in other industries, at infinitum until one company can conceivably own and run, well, everything.
Federalist Society members see nothing wrong with that. In fact, they want stock and seats on the board of directors.
Microsoft can use its monopoly in the OS to spend unlimited amounts of the 100 bil play money pile to bankrupt and dominate the VOIP market. And moving on, any other industry they care to take over.
And, if this is in the interest of the stockholders, um... why haven't they paid any dividends out of that 100 billion dollar pile? If the shareholders' interests really were the purpose of the company, the stockholders would all be rich.
This time, it's because they're indexing one of my sites and Google won't. Dammit, I love hating Microsoft. But in this case, it's Google and Yahoo neglecting me =(
Sounds like another attempt of "Embrace, extend and extinguish"
e xtinguish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_
If Skype weren't a bug-ridden, crash-happy P.O.S. I might be more sympathetic. Right now they rate up there with Real as a company that deserves to get steamrolled.
I just thought he did. And I thought Windows was the only thing that was being duplicated.
Geek Of The Day, "A geeky place for geeky faces."
Competition can only help the situation. Vonage charges $14 for limited amount of minutes/month. Guess how much the phone cards at the 99 cents only store run for... You guessed it. 99 cents and that's for 99 minutes of long distance in the US. It works great and it's extremely cheap. No connection fees or nothing. Until VOIP is that cheap for a simple land line (or even all the taxes and then a penny per minute there after), then VOIP uptake wont quite cut it. You better believe that these phone cards use VOIP. It's extremely cheap to impliment and the savings could be great if the customer is treated properly.
Not only does it make them look evil, but also incompetent. I'm sure it's been said many, many times in other articles (and possibly this one), but Microsoft is starting to look seriously pathetic. When was the last time they rolled out a successful new product that was really important?
Winamp and such get big, and they decide to pump their media player full of crazy new stuff; they even changed the interface to somewhat copy some aspects of Winamp's and some other media players'. They tried to enter the search engine market back in the day and, frankly, the only reason they got anywhere is little tricks like defaulting IE's homepage to their MSN search crap. That, and Hotmail, which, by the way, they were giving a truly miserable service with until Google came in and set things right.
And then there's all those press releases we've been seeing lately. Their rip-off of Google Maps/Earth, and such. I suppose you could say Google's not exactly innocent of this practice; while Google Maps is somewhat innovative, it's mostly just a fusion of two services that were already widely available; then there's Google Talk, and the browser bars, and so on and on and on. But Google actually rolls out GOOD software, and it's not obnoxiously full of ads like Microsoft's many products. Just look at Hotmail, or MSN Messenger, or just about anything else of the sort they have.
Not that this is anything new, anyways; I'm sure many here will point out Microsoft wasn't exactly being original with MS DOS, Windows, and so on. But it's seriously sad and pathetic, and they're beginning to be displaced in every area of the market. MSN Messenger is still huge in many countries, but other services are making head. IE is slowly being eaten by Firefox. Linux is making more and more progress towards being usable by the average Windows user. Google Mail is stomping on Hotmail. And let's not even mention MSN's search engine.
Everywhere you look, Microsoft's sucking. I wouldn't want to be a stockholder of theirs right now.
I saw a few mentions of talk.google.com, will it include something similar? Makes sense to, google does pretty much everything else.
In the old days, an announcement like this would have been an instant death blow to the competing company. I am happy to note these days it is a relative non-event.
Yeah, with pungent vapor like this, who needs Vic's Vapor Rub?
Chances are if this actually does come out, it will be late, vastly inferior to Skype, bug ridden, and have all kinds of "Big Daddy Gates wants to monitor your communications" crap built into it (for those Microsoft apologists who are about to collectively scream "that's unfair bashing of our Holy Order", I would refer you to the long, long history of Microsoft doing exactly that sort of thing, on all points.)
People stupid enough to use "Microsoft Phone" deserve to have their private communications posted to the web and broadcast on the six o'clock news. Think of it as social evolution in action.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
That's all I've got.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
MS continues to slip further and further down the pole of irrelevance...
Vista is shaping up to be a featureless experiment in eye candy meanwhile MS continues to BUY (translate: innovate)trying desparately to remain relevent while the rest of the FREE market continues to be driven by CONSUMER INNOVATION, OPEN SOURCE AND GOOGLE!
There I said it!
Goog day.
"Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones."
I currently call landlines on stanaphone (via both softphone and hardware-based SIP), iconnecthere (both softphone and hardware-based), and packet 8 (hardware based). Skype is certainly not the only one allowing calls to the PSTN, and they're certainly not the most flexible.
I don't care what they do as long as they make a Mac/Linux version, OR make sure it's compatible with Skype. I do not want to use my game machine for anything other than playing games.
-- Cheers!
"The computer giant has increased its presence in the fast-growing internet phone sector by purchasing leading player Teleo for an undisclosed sum."
? q=&url=teleo.com
Leading? Surely he means dying?
Look at the graph,
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details
Its reach per million for the last 3 months has been 1, thats about 220 visitors a day to the site.
Skype is not the only provider allowing callin calls gizmo project ? anyways, i dont think this is a killer. i have skype right now, and simply because gizmo project doesnt have phone #'s for 716 yet further more, with MS backing Pocket PC, they are less likly to release a version for Symbian (8 hopefully, my nokia 9500 has wifi) than Skype or Gizmo And why another product ? Whats wrong with MSN Messanger ? Why not just build off of that ?
I don't want to have my PC running to make calls. And no Windows PC for certain.
I want a VOIP appliance I can plug into my NAT/firewall and link up to my existing phone cabling.
That's one reason not to have Skype. But two reasons not to have a Windows solution.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
What will realy kill somebody is Google talk once they will introduce the transport system so that people can chat with anybody using any other IM, thanks to jabber :)
:)
C'M'on MS instead of trying to "kill" people opponents, try to innovate and not buy startups
I guess it literally phones home.
...and anyone using SIP gateways can call landlines and mobiles (for a small fee).
There can be no doubt that Microsoft wants a slice of everyones pie. No independent software vendor is immune to Microsoft taking over their market almost overnight by using it's monopoly power on the desktop.
Any antitrust regulations will only give them a slap on the wrist after they have made insane amounts of money from their behaviour. There is simply no way they will stop, it is too lucrative.
Any independent software vendor should ask themselves if they can really gamble their whole future on making software for Windows, given Microsofts track record.
Thus all ISVs should look into cross platform development so that they have some options the day Microsoft tries to eat their lunch. Startups should avoid Microsoft-only solutions and instead go for open solutions that will work on Windows as well as other platforms.
Company announces product that will destroy the competition. "Out real soon!" /. falls for another vaporware announcement and posts it all over the 'net, causing the marketing drone that wrote it ("hey, you! write something that'll cause our competition some pain, but it doesn't have to cost much!") a spontaneous orgasm.
And breaking news: Water rumoured to be wet!
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
From teleo.com I found This m1ccy$0ft connect site.
.net post backs when I reselect a combo box... bloody view state.
No beta on there though, but the teleo site says there should be.
Painful registration as well, very slow... stupid
Anyway
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
This brings me back to when Microsoft decided that search engines were cool and launched their search engine/Google killer.
I wonder what ever happened to that Google company after that.
...that they are going to inform about a briefing for whoever is interested in news about an upcoming event where coverage of a future announcement will be told to intkfskghddf (head explodes)
Oh my frickin' good, that's one BORING company...
Wake me up when Microsoft announces that Paul Allen will publicly fsck Bill Gates up the ass, so I can run in the other direction.
They might be feeling a little bit jealous
It's going to be called MS Hype. Microsoft's idea of a killer app is more like a steamroller. It's big. It's slow. It's unwieldy. It's relentless. And it's gonna crush you when you discover your feet stuck in wet cement.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
If Longhorn/Vista is "enchanced" with this VoIP software, this will mean every future desktop will have this. If it works anything like the way MSN "hides" accounts be prepared for random "audio spam" from bots. If you thought getting a racey email at work from a pr0n site because they somehow got ahold of your work email address is bad or embarassing just wait till you have a "perky girl" asking you to "help them with their problem".
If MS goes through with this, I hope they handle it a lot better than MSN. If it is anything like it then be prepared for another technology scourge that will cause users to scramble for a solution.
I just thought about a wrinkle to the VoIP plan for Microsoft. The issue is all the Baby Bells and their relative local monopolies. Right now there is a law that allows consumers to have local phone with one company and have DSL with another. BellSouth easily got an injunction because the argued that it couldn't be the same everywhere. So therefore, it was somehow a better idea to take more money out of consumers pockets. The problem is that DSL is all but dead because you get the choice of the Local Monopoly service, or "take your chance" service with everyone else. Since I could only get DSL through BellSouth--I have now after 6 months decided to Choose BellSouth instead of no DSL.
What is the whole point of VOIP then, it I have to get local access through BellSouth or, not get local access but pay extra for the DSL so that I might as well just get local access. If that doesn't make sense, then you are like me before I tried this route. The juggling the average consumer needs to do to get rid of long distance and local access with whatever DSL or Cable they get is going to be a tough and confusing battle.
It may be good that Microsoft has entered this market, so that they can do the heavy lifting in the courts and the market that VoIP is going to require. Skype may already have the "low hanging fruit" -- the geeks and businesses that can actually take advantage of VoIP. But the home user is going to have to be led to VoIP. For once, Microsoft will be in the position of trail blazing and spending mucho denero to fight all the local phone monopolies to make VoIP actually save money and seamless. Don't expect companies like BellSouth to lay there and not get anti-competitive laws in place. The only people who are going to make money with VoIP for the next two years are lawyers, lobbyists and politicians.
***
Anyone who doesn't think BellSouth and other Baby Bells are not monopolies only needs to consider that BellSouth does not market DSL in New York. They get the SouthEast and they don't even try to do any business outside the SouthEast in the United States. The same goes for all the other Bells. They don't compete with eachother -- only in places where they own the infrastructure.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
Launch Op: "Target set, prelaunch check complete. Waiting for your command."
Bill: (nervous) "A-and you're sure this can't get traced back to me?"
Launch Op: "Sir a nuclear blast tends to take out all evidence in the area."
Steve: "Just do it, Bill. We've been through this a thousand times already."
Bill: "Ok, ok. It just feels like there's something we're missing..."
Steve: "Operator, commence countdown."
Launch Op: "Countdown commencing. Ten... Nine... Eight..."
Bill: "We've checked weather conditions, have the Skype HQ coordinates programmed in..."
Launch Op: "Seven... Six... Five..."
Bill: "...materials purchased from untracable sources, planted evidence on Zimbabwe..."
Launch Op: "Four... Three... Two...
Bill: "What am I missing?! What is it!"
Launch Op: "One... Zero... Launchi... what the? What is this blue screen?"
Bill: "OH SH**! OH SH**! STEVE WHAT OS DID YOU PUT ON THOSE???"
Steve: "Windows 2003 Server. What, did you want me to use Lin.."
Little Suzy watched the beautiful orange glow from her apartment window in Tacoma. She didn't know where it had come from, but she felt that somehow, everything was right with the world.
An interesting conclusion from your posting: Skype is definitely #1 in PC-based voice telecommunication. The talk is really about Skype and not about MS or Google :)
One of the reasons Skype is so popular is its ability to bypass NAT routers and firewalls without configuration. I was trying to communicate with some non-tech savvy relatives in Germany and Skype was the only solution: we tried other programs first (including the venerable and secure Speak Freely) but only Skype worked in the end.
This is really about Microsoft staking its claim in an emerging market. It doesn't mean they're going to strike oil. WebTV hasn't really led to a rush to adopt a Microsoft-dominated media/PC convergence model. And neither has Windows MCE. Microsoft's ventures outside its traditional Windows and Office franchises have not been particularly successful.
Nobody would think of phoning people through their PC if there wasn't temporarily a tariff anomaly - that's simply not going to persist in the long term.
The kind of thing that will persist is a rather different kind of innovative integration that delivers services that can be used on familiar devices (phones, televisions, etc) as well as PCs - an example of which might be HomeChoice.
Think the magic phrase is here:
As Google shows, once you've got your name on peoples lips, competitors have a very hard time shifting you. Skype is already catching as a brand name with non-nerds. I've had the most surprising non-nerds asking me, as a representive nerd, about Skype recently. By the end of the year, there's a good chance Skype will be the "Google" of IP telephony
All that aside, Microsoft has been pretty slack about pushing search.msn.com to the users beyond those already sucked into msn.com. It's almost like they don't care - all that matters is that they were "also rans".
Which makes me wonder if this is really about catering to Wall Street to keep that stock price bouyant?
Doesn't work in Linux But for $1.27 you can use Voipbuster to call a dozen countries unlimited minutes for free.
Quality is fairly good. A friend of mine has dumped his local phone service and is using this for all his calls.
A usb headset/handset and a xbox application+ high speed internet and ta-da, instant internet phone..
I probably shouldn't give them any of my good ideas... Quick to the patent office!
I used Skype and love the service, but I feel they're a little lazy. For instance, Skype-In. You can get Skype-In numbers in such populous, economic power house countries as Estonia or Finland. But for such small, obscure places like Japan, India, Germany, getting a Skype-In number is not possible as of yet.
It might be regulatory issues, I guess, but now that MS in the mix the people at Skype will have to move faster. When Bill Gates wants to talk to the German telecom authorities about "MS-in" numbers, he'll get a meeting right away ...
Other things like video calls have been possible using MSN and Yahoo for ages. Why not Skype? Also, voice quality could improve inside the US. I get clearer calls to the Philippines and Bulgaria than to NYC or Missouri.
As a geek, I realize that this might be the fault of the US infrastructure and something that to fix would require new technology, money or innovation; however, as a customer, I don't care and I'm sure that Microsoft would find a way to make the calls crystal clear.
Just to be clear, I'm not bashing Skype. It has revolutionized the way I talk to to family and friends world-wide. At present it is the best product out there for what it does, the most flexible, the most innovative, etc. I just want to see them continue on this path and a little kick in the ass from Gates and company would be a good thing.
So how is bundling VOIP into windows competitive?
If Microsoft provided a IP service that could ring *all* phone numbers would certainly kill Skype.
...
There are a huge range of numbers that aren't accessable from Skype. This of coarse depends on which the country. In Spain for example, Skype cannot ring the special service numbers used by banks and other companies. These turn out to be very important for normal users, so in fact this what prevents people from replacing their phone compleatly and using Skype.
These are the so-called "special numbers"
This would be a killer blow to Skype if they could equal the quality of Skype and provide some extra features:
* Ability to ring *all* numbers, including "special"
Someone hits the radars... they do their usual lets make a press release before we have any code strategy, so that some possible customers hold off..
In this case it is totally irrelevant, since the Microsoft offer either probably will break the SIP standard, or will be a closed island like skype, and to the worse will run Windows only as well, while all other alternatives are available on all platforms...
Microsoft should be more worried that their company could go down with the rest of the economy if the environmental situation becomes worse, than to try to dominate every corner of the IT market...
Before anyone goes on about how MS will end up running everything with a proprietary protocol that noone else can interoperate with you should ask about Skype itself. You do realise that Skype is simply a propietary hacked version of SIP? We looked at what it does here (since we are in a similar line of business) and it is scary how convoluted they have tried to make it so that nobody else can provide service/equipment that interoperates with them. They are becoming a closed exclusive network that no other provider can operate with. Yes you can go out to the public network but what if you want to call someone on Skype? You have to use Skype. Why should I be forced to use a certain VoIP provider just to call another subscriber on that network? Anyway just my 2c given where I work have looked at a lot of the details of how these work. Also FYI MS messenger uses SIP to do it's VoIP side communication before you ask, i.e. non-proprietary.
Skype has already presented their next move:
SkypeIn, that will let you receive incoming calls to a phone numbere whereevr you are. If they can get the service working in most of the 1st world by the end of the year it would be the best answer to Microsoft I could think of.
Anyway its sadly true that 90% of the market will use Microsoft software only because its already there and they could not install skype on their pc if they had a gun pointed at their head (sorry no sworfish joke for you!).
It could be the ground for a new legal battle anyway, that'd be interesting!!!
include "MicroSkype" with every PC sold by DELL, HP, Gateway and most of the other PC OEMs who don't dare market an alternative OS on the front page of their websites, or add a "xxx recommends Linux" banner. If they do they'll lose their Microsoft ad "rebates" which make survival in a commodity market place so essential because of razor thin profit margins.
Like Netscape, et. al., Skype won't have a spot on the DELL desktop, so they are at an instant market disadvantage because folks have to seek Skype out, download and install it. MicroSkype will already be installed, or will be part of some automatic "virus" patch update on existing Windows boxes.
After Microsoft destroys Skype then you can expect to see MicroSkype convert to a time limited demo mode, with $$$ required to activate the useful features.
Tell me again why this is FAIR competition..
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
Pick-up phone: Windows Xp will set you free...
...
...
please dial number you want to reach after the tone...
I never though I would overcome my intimate problem but Zentaz made me happy...
sound of you dialing...
your cal will be forwarded in a moment please stay on the phone to maintain your calling priority...
Enlarge you Manhood!...
dring... dring... dring...
The person at the end of the line as pick-up the phone, what do you want to do now? press 1 to ask this person name, press 2 to identify yourself and state the reason of your call, press 3 to talk immediately to the people that answered...
Drink Pepsi
You are now in communication, thank you for using Microsoft, WindowsXP will set you free...
Quoth the article:
"Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones."
Not so; Yahoo!'s instant messenger for PC has a beta VOIP capability based on Net2Phone, and it allows calls to landlines and cellphones.
I'm sure there are others as well.
Here it comes Microsoft, who innovates by copying what Google is doing. I mean, that action is ok as long as they don't call themselves an innovative company.
Damn shame, damn shame.
I guess we'll finally find out what the color blue sounds like.
I make these: http://beatseqr.com
Over the last year MS introduced/announced:
/me puts on tinfoil hat
A 'google search killer'
An 'ipod killer'
A 'bittorrent killer'
A load of X killers that I can't be bothered to remember
now a Skype killer
How about, well I don't know, eh, ACTUALLY MAKING A DECENT OS THAT'S FINISHED ON TIME?
I guess that's asking too much.
Come on MS finish what you start before you do something else.
we NEED a slower operating system on our computers. It's the only thing that will lead to faster processors.
Or do you think it's a mere coincidence that since the introduction of WinXP and the long wait for it's successor, processor speed suddenly stopped doubling every 18 months?
Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones. Poppycock. Voipbuster however, might be the only one offering that for free! (calls to cellphones get cut after a minute) Do yer homework before spouting.
It'll just be the next version of Windows. Ensure Skype doesn't run properly, and that'll kill them off long before it can come out in the courts that Microsoft was engaging in anti-competitive practices.
Ahhh... history... why do you repeat yourself?
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.
"Microsoft intends to launch the service by the end of the year".
If they make this date, that is about three months after Apple's launch (September 7)
I have a few old voice modems lying around and I was wondering whether it would be technically feasible to write software that would route the call through the modem so that I plug into it a standard telephone and talk. Maybe it could even make the phone ring? If such a thing wouldn't work, why not? I don't know enough about modems.
I know VOIP companies sell special hardware for using conventional phones, but it seems to me that a modem+software might work as well, and everybody has one already.
New technology comes out, becomes popular. Microsoft tries to implement their own version of new technology, but usually incompatible with other products. For OS-based tech, MS becomes popular as it is integrated into the operating system... competitor loses ground not because of lack-of-quality but simple lack-of-recognition against MS integration.
This is a little different than MS-vs-Google. In that case, most browsers have already been configured with a start page, and new machines usually have their manufacturer's website as the start page. Google is already a phenomenoa in itself as well.
In many ways Skype and VOIP are still establishing themselves outside of certain circles. Having a big "you can call long-distance-for-cheap" feature come blazing in through messenger would ensure much faster recognition/visibility for the MS product.
Wasn't this part of the issue in anti-trust? Yet MS continues to steal other people's good ideas, flatten the original companies, and not come up with much of anything new on their own.
Can't microsoft invent anything on their own and launch it rather than looking at what other people do and try to kill it?
Microsoft To Follow Leading-Edge App From Scrappy Upstart Company With Mediocre Knockoff That Nevertheless Successfully Leverages Stupid Monopoly And Network Effect, Thus Restoring Mediocre Status Quo
least... innovative... company... evar
Isn't there a law somewhere about using your monopoly power to leverage into other businesses?
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
I wish more people understood how corrupt Microsoft (or as I say, 'Microshaft') really is. Take a look at political funds, for instance. Bill Gates gives the maximum allowed $2000 to all of the Republican Candidates for political offices that he can, including Bush, Sen. Harry Reid, not to mention a score of others. Also consider that during the Clinton Administration (Clinton did not recieve the money from Gates), the US Department of Justice under Janet Reno filed the anti-Trust suit against Microshaft. Bush was elected. The suit was all-but-dropped. Microsoft payed a few hundred million in fines, but what's a few hundred million to M$? THEY WERE ALLOWED TO KEEP DOING THIS! Someone said that history keeps repeating itself, and this individual doesn't know how correct (s)he is. M$ is of late employing the strategy that John D. Rockefeller used to make Standard Oil such a behemoth. They were so powerful because of their money, that they gobbled up all of the smaller oil companies and integrated them into SO. This is what M$ does. All of the small companies (like the aforementioned Teleo) are gobbled up by M$ and then monopoly is allowed to continue. This is outrageous. The government nearly gives them a pat on the butt like a basketball coach. This level of corruption makes my blood boil.
give me a break!
Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones
I have been using the gizmo project for about a month now and it allows me to make cheap calls all over the place to landlines, mobiles and other gizmo and SIP users.
Be nice, sponsor me: http://jailbreak.ragabonds.org.uk
come on, man, pay attention. The only one to offer calls to lanf lines?! Please. There are dozens, I mean, dozens of services that have done that for a very long time now, most of which are far better than Skype any way. Just for one tiny example, look at www.freeworldddialup.com
You can not post incorrect information & retain any credibility.
The worst of both worlds: "Microsoft, the Phone Company". It's like having your dishonest car mechanic taking over your dentist's office.
--
make install -not war
I mean, have you ever USED Skype? It doesn't measure up to the hype. Quality is lackluster.. I downloaded it and messed with it for about 10 minutes before never touching it ever again.
How long until we get the Blue Scream of Deaf?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Hardly a non-event: this will be the first application win for the OSS community. Linux is, of course a fantastic platform success. Firefox doing OK, but had to deal with entrenched competition: IE.
This time the shoe is on the other foot. OSS has the jump on Gates and MS. Sure, Microsoft would love to sing its old song: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD). It can't though, because of open standards and open source.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the VOIP client PhoneGaim, for example, are entrenched competition that won't be dislodged by FUD. There are no OSS investors to scare away. And of course, Microsoft can't drop the consumer's price point below zero.
This upcoming defeat for Gates & Co. will convince Wall Street that MS has nowhere to go but down. That, in turn, will open up the software field to "the Bazaar" that Eric Raymond described so well. This head-to-head fair fight is something to celebrate. This is the morning of our success and freedom.
It seems like every time microsoft announces "a ___ killer", "__" doesn't get killed.
I suppose Microsoft would use their Real-Time Communications to develop this "Skype Killer"?
I used RTC in some of my projects and I am impressed by it. Unfortunately, the RTC support for Windows CE devices is not yet ready. Once that is done, we might be seeing this "Skype Killer" on our Windows computers, WinCE PDAs and embedded devices.
w00t
I seriously don't understand why MS is moving away from where it should be focused.
The moment they announced the takeover, they moved the website and fucked it, check out http://teleo.msn.com/ As usual MS will release the product with tons of bugs.
Now Google with it's half scrambled egg-products can't kill MSN messenger or Yahoo(the better amongst all, yet remaining silent). Google is nothing more than a hype. Ask them to add better features and I am sure they will have as many bugs as MS has because the same programmers are writing code.
Anyway, the heat for time to release will only help Yahoo I think because their products seem to be resonably stable and reliable.
I am not a SIP expert, but this assessment seems overly critical -- lose the caps and the asterisks. Yes. SIP sucks. But it is less sucky than H.323, and virtually all SIP devices will work with each other to some degree. Before SIP, there was no assurance that your H.323 phone would play well with someone else's. IAX2 is certainly interesting, but not widely adopted.
True, NAT and firewall traversal issues stubbornly cling to the SIP Top Ten problem list, and the workarounds (STUN, outbound proxy) are inelegant. That said, SIP is widely adopted. Like Windows, it is Good Enough.
Come on MS finish what you start before you do something else.
More to the point, it would be nice if their reactionary projects were able to exceed or at least equal those that came before. (Think MSN search, IE 7, etc.)
On the whole, I don't see it as such a bad thing that Microsoft keeps trying to nose its way into markets and technologies that others have already pioneered and then claimed that they were in fact the innovators. For starters, anyone who matters sees through this and knows that Microsoft has always been the follower in every market it enters.
Second, as long Microsoft keeps it up, they will eventually spread themselves too thin and collapse under the weight of having to manage 43 gazillion of their "me too" projects.
Gizmo Project http://www.gizmoproject.com/ is the right solution because it is SIP based so it can connect with anyone's directory. It DOES have sophisticated NAT traversal technology which is as good as Skypes.
THey DO have PSTN connectivity which Yahoo, MSN, Google don't have.
It's available for Mac/Win/Lin TODAY. IT's not vaporware like MS garbage.
Plus it has call record, free voicemail and lots more.
Because when you're Microsoft it's not enough to compete... you have to utterly destroy them in order to achieve an erection.
*grumblecakes*
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
Come, say it with me
Out go the dogs of FUD
In comes the vaporware...
Out go the dogs of FUD
In comes the vaporware...
See, you already feel better!
for $20/mo. you have unlimited calls not just US and Canada but also a total of 21 countries. Including UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway, Oz...
pretty sweet if call quality is decent.
It really doesn't matter who has the better product, MS will be the VOIP market leader if this new app is included in Vista because most users will just use whatever is already installed on their computer... Why else does Internet Explorer have 80%+ market share? (don't say it's because of the pretty blue "e")
Get your torrents...
Why do companies develop Windows programs these days? If your program is successful Microsoft will just make a sucky rip-off and ship it with Windows. Do they all hope to be bought by MS?
These news quickly turned into these news.
These news quickly turned into these news.
MS Plan:
1. Suffix a well-known product with the word "killer".
2. Hold a press conference of your product.
3. Release a pale version of the suffixed product above.
4. ???
5. Profit!!
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
http://www.randomthink.net/archives/2005/07/08/sky pe-vs-gizmo-project/
Now that's innovation!
I remember back in the day, WAY before Skype even existed, one could make a call from Messenger (or was it NetMeeting?) straight to landline for free.
It's yet another of the select few cases when Microsoft did something innovative and nobody noticed.
They've removed this functionality pretty quickly, because lots of people started using it and it was draining money. Tech (mainly connectivity) wasn't ready to take it back then.
They display your account balance in Euros.
-- www.punkmusic.com
WHATEVER the FUCK, come on somebody give me a service that calls phones (cell/landline) to India for cheap, less than 10c. NO..NOT ONE, all claim cheap, but if you carefully observe its NOT countries like India. Skype offers some 17c, Gizmo offers 22c, so where is it for people like me to appreciate calling frm PCs to phone??
Why?
From my exp. Skype is free , any service MS bring out will probably be a PAY Service. So i doubt MS will make any real ground against SKYPE.
Anthony J
so the "alternative to Skype" market is already being filled by yahoo on my WinXP laptop at home.
Plus now I can phone tallgirlwithguitar and talk when she turns on her webcam. Even if she's in NYC and I'm in Seattle.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
This is slightly OT, but I was wondering if anyone here might know of software that would allow me to plug in a standard phone into the computer modem port, and then use that when talking on Skype, or MSN/Y/GTalk voice chat etc. I definitely would prefer using a conventional cordless phone rather than my headset.
Note that I'm not referring to using a SIP device like the DTA-310 that Packet8 used to give (maybe still does, dunno). Though if you have any info on how to use that and use a normal phone through Skype or IMs, that would be useful as well.
"Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones."
Oh please...
Skype is one of the *MORE expensive* providers which only allow *skype* software to be used for their proprietary protocol. Skype is one of the *FEW* voip providers that cannot provide a dialin number (e.g. you cannot be called by a normal phone).
There are tons of really cheap providers that use open protocols and that have *REAL* voip telephones for sale (and not those *FAKE* usb telephones).
So forget about skype. Nobody really uses it.
For more and real voip providers (which is certainly not complete):
http://www.myvoipprovider.com/.
Come on guy! Let's check our facts before making such a broad sweeping claim. VoipBuster lets you make free voip calls to landline & cellphones in about 20 countries.
> Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones.
Maybe in the USA. Here in germany it's no big deal to get a clean VoIP for your home. There are many providers that have a bridge to the old phone networks, and some big companies like 1&1 pushing the system.
(By the way they all use real SIP and no proprietary protocol like skype. That's why they are mostly interconnected with most concurrents. My favourite is Sipgate.)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
"Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones"
No it is not!
I use http://www.voipbuster.com/
Personally found it is better then Skype
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore."
So when I'm calling landlines and cellphones (or mobiles, as they're known where I call from) all over the world using Vonage I was dreaming, was I?
I know this is slashdot, but would it really hurt if someone with two brain cells read a submission before it gets put out?
no taxation without representation!
Dialpad was once free to use for USA and Canada calls. I wonder how they were able to make it free for so long before they went "corporate" and started charging?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I prefer FreeWorld Dialup as a great way to go for voip:
- standards based
- Free
- Windows , Linux and pocketpc clients available
- Call 800 numbers and more
- Call to/from vonage customers
- get free phone number and have people call you
- Get a wisip phone (WiFi SIP) and you have the closest thing to a IP mobile phone you can get.
FreeWorld Dialup
Skype is NOT the only provider than allows calls to cell phones and landlines (at a cost). It wasn't even the first. I don't know about other providers around the world, but Firefly http//www.freshtel.net/ was available some time before Skype, and is also allows calls to landlines, etc. (at a cost).
Skype is currently the only provider to allow calls to landlines and cellphones
Funny...I can pick up my VoIP phone (a Vonage phone) and call landlines and cellphones all day...
Maybe we DID take the blue pill. You wouldn't remember anyway.
...without trouble, or VOIP doesn't tie me to needing 1) an electrical utility account and 2) a broadband connection, let me know. Otherwise VOIP is one Big Waste Of Time.
There's a free sip to pstn gateway at http://voipuser.org/
Pretty neat little device actually, back in the day - 900mhz and the ability to voice dial by having the base hooked up to the PC!
- 39D01DE2-prod3
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-3BBA-151E2E89
for a quick pic!