[plug] Skype ?

[Arkem Paul]

Christopher Whittaker wrote:
> The only thing that bothers me about Skype is not the actual  system , 
> but that the person behind the development of Kazaa is the same person 
> behind Skype. Given the "publicity" regarding the abuse of Kazaa,s 
> client information and the  'alleged" blatant disregard for privacy  and 
> exploitation for profit of that information by the managers of the 
> current system I would be reluctant to use this system given that we 
> have several alternatives developed directly for open source like 
> gnomemeeting ,zaptel, nikotel, cornfed ,bonephone and for business 
> solutions tying them together with asterisk et al.
> This is not to start a bunfight about who is better only a personal 
> opinion. I believe in the opportunities provided by Voip and the 
> propensity to bring savings etc, I have even been an  advocate for VOIP 
> opensource alternatives at my workplace and to my social circle, I do 
> not necessarily share the view that Skype should be the first choice and 
> would caution those who do.
> chriswhittaker at smartchat.net.au
> 

I thought it's time for me to throw in my bit about Skype, a good a time 
as any to delurk a little.

I'm not so concerned about this side of Skype. I believe that since 
Skype is founded on a more reasonable business model than Kazaa and 
there is no dubious legality to contend with there will be no reason for 
any disregard for privacy like we've seen previously. It appears that 
Skype only advertises its connection to Kazaa to lend credit to the P2P 
technology that Skype contains.

I am a fan of Skype due to the simplicity of set up over a variety of 
platforms. With PocketPC, Linux, Windows and Mac OS X support it would 
have to be one of the most supported VoIP clients available. The setup 
process has been streamlined to the point where it is as easy to setup 
as any instant messaging account.

The idea of a peer to peer network supporting VoIP service also appeals 
to me (it makes my networking sense tingle). In my adventures as a 
sysadmin the problem of having to use Destination NAT to get File 
Sharing and Instant Messaging to internal PCs and the security problems 
this entails have driven me away from other VoIP clients. The ability to 
  make and recieve calls without having ports forwarded past the firwall 
appeals to me. This is what drew me to Skype in the first place.

The other services that Skype offers such as routing you out to real 
phone networks is also appealing and helped me considerably recently 
when I needed to call a US telco who did not have a number reachable 
internationally.

Skype isn't perfect though and there are several things I wish could be 
changed. For instance Skype isn't Open Source, which is a pity! Though I 
can understand why it isn't. Also Skype isn't standards based 
(Definately not H.323) in the slightest so how the protocol works might 
as well be black magic (though I'd suggest that it wouldn't be 
impossible to reverse engineer). Also it is not certain how viable 
Skype's business model is so if it isn't going to work for them the 
whole network could collapse overnight and with no standards based 
implementation or open source we couldn't do anything about it.

I'm not too sure how coherent I have been, it's been a long week with 
not enough caffeine. The summary of my ramble is this: "I think Skype's 
P2P tech is sexy, don't worry so much about the dodgy Kazaa link and 
learn to love the VoIP".

-Arkem