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Fring Calls Skype 'Cowards'; Skype Responds

Posted by kdawson on from the pot-comma-kettle dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It seems that Skype and Fring are not getting along so well today. First, Fring made a claim that Skype was blocking Fring and in a subsequent blog post, called Skype 'cowards': 'Now that Fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so. They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards.' Skype has responded, stating that Fring's misuse of Skype software was damaging their brand and reputation: 'There is no truth to Fring's claims that Skype has blocked it. Fring made the decision to remove Skype functionality on its own.'

6 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. I tend choose Skype side in this one by santax · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well I tend to believe Skype on this one. About the not-blocking. I can even see why they want to protect their brand and especially continued service for their customers. As a Skype user I actually am happy they do so. Nah, no complaints about skype from me so far. Calling your the company whoms api's you have been using for years a coward is not done in my book btw. Just keep to the license and everything should be fine. Al least, that is my experience with Skype. Your mileage may vary though.

    1. Re:I tend choose Skype side in this one by JohnFluxx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I believe Skype, but I don't side with them.

      Look at what skype said:

      "Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn’t designed to be used – and in a way which is in breach of Skype’s API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement."

      Note that they don't say what, and given what other people have said here it would fit in perfectly that what is actually happening is:

      1) Skype are notoriously slow about adding new features to the official client
      2) Fring added the features themselves.
      3) Skype told Fring to stop adding features that they haven't added to the official client
      4) Fring did not want to remove the features that their users demanded and in frustration and to get attention they removed video support.
      5) Both sides feel that they are the victim.

      This seems to fit in with what the comments are saying. For example
      "People want to use Skype NOW!!!! Skype takes FOREVER to release updates for their iOS software!! You had a working demo of Skype on iOS 4.0 back when Apple first announced iOS 4.0 yet there STILL hasn't been a release months later. "
        and
      "And the whole issue with charging for Skype Over 3G? I already pay you for a monthly subscription, now I will have to pay extra to use it on my iPhone over 3G? "

    2. Re:I tend choose Skype side in this one by santax · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We can continue in Dutch, German or French if you want? English isn't my first language. Thanks for the education though. You forgot to actually reply on my comment btw.

  2. Facetious? by Arancaytar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "They deserved the block, and we didn't block them anyway" sounds like an odd denial.

    Mind you, I think Fring is going about it wrongly and nobody who seriously wants an open standard and a sensible platform should even glance at Skype. Work with XMPP or the Wave protocol or something.

  3. Re:Not so sure Fring is the bad guy here. by Another,+completely · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Basically, sounds like the vanilla Skype client is not ready to adopt this technology on their iPhone apps, but Fring already has, using Skype's API. This makes Skype's devs look bad...

    It would also make the API look bad if this over-extends it (i.e. using it "in a way it wasn’t designed to be used" as Skype claims), resulting in reduced reliability. Skype is trying to build a reputation for being as reliable as the fixed telephone networks which, whatever else you might say about them, are pretty damn reliable. Something that usually works, but sometimes gets turned off without notice (like Skype claims happened last Friday) is not going to compete with the predictable (if boring and audio-only) plain-old-telephone-service.

  4. Reliance on third party == Bad business model by NynexNinja · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let that be a lesson to all, that those who base their business model around a third party are doomed to fail... In Fring's business plan, I'm sure one of the single points of failure is the fact that at any time, Skype can choose to put them out of business by adding one or two lines of iptables filter rules to their firewall.

    They should do what skype does, not attempt to piggy-back on skype. It doesn't work, because eventually your business will actually grow, and then what happens is skype becomes your competitor, rather than your friend. Once this happens, it becomes in their best interest to remove you from the equation.