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Research Group Pushes to Ban Skype

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the only-as-secure-as-you-make-it dept.

cowmix writes "Hot on the heals of Skype being purchased by Ebay, a research group called Info-Tech just put out a recommendation to its customers that all corporations should ban the use of Skype on their networks. The reports sites a laundry list of issues it feels plagues Skype, most of which will have a familiar ring (ie the normal anti-IM and P2P talking points). Will this cool Skype's rapid progress into the business arena?"

4 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Info-Tech, No conflict of interest there... by aywwts4 · · Score: 5, Informative

    One of the services they offer are VOIP comparisons for 200 dollars, Of their twelve endorsed vendors Skype is nowhere on the list. http://www.infotech.com/Products%20and%20Services/ Vendor%20and%20Software%20Selection/VoIP.aspx

    Now lets not give this poor piece of press release any more credence then it deserves, It may be on yahoo's page but its only the equivalent of a company making a mock news story about themselves.

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  2. Re:Not if by farker+haiku · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, I tried to find out how legit they were by reading some of their "white papers" like their guide to securing 802.11, but the cost was 450 dollars a year for membership. Heh.

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  3. There are two simple reasons why Skype use is bad by aarku · · Score: 5, Informative

    And they are outlined in great length here.

  4. Re:Half-truths by egjertse · · Score: 5, Informative
    Oh dear... Have you even used Skype?

    Only Linux/ALSA is supported.

    Windows, Linux and MacOS is supported. On Linux, Skype uses OSS, not ALSA. ALSA support is in the works.

    Audio is poor quality: only 8KHz 1 channel 8 bit sampling.

    Audio quality scales with available bandwith/cpu power. Skype dynamically switches codecs depending on the available resources.

    Encryption not turned on by default.

    Really? All Skype calls are encrypted end-to-end by default - Skype to PSTN calls are encrypted until it reaches the PSTN network.

    User interface uses harsh, unfriendly colours.

    Subjective. The Linux version can easily be themed through QT, as it is dynamically linked to your QT library.

    The ringing sound is kind of loud, and surprises you when you're not expecting it because you forgot to set your status to not interrupt you.

    Not only can you change the default ring tone, you can download free ringtones from the Skype website...

    So... What was the problem again?

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