[plug] Skype - what it is and what it provides

[Patrick Coleman]

On 2/8/07, Bret Busby <bret at busby.net> wrote:
>
> The article at
> http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10422897
> appears to indicate that, if a person buys one of those web cams that
> comes with Skype, the person still has to pay an ongoing monthly fee to
> be able to use it.
>
> I had understood that, if a person bought one of these webcams that come
> with Skype, the person could then make free calls to someone else who
> had a webcam with Skype, and that this would allow a videophone
> communication, with no costs other than the cost of buying the
> webcam/Skype hardware/software package.
>
> And, I understand that Skype works with Linux, with Windows, and with
> Mac OSX, so that, if I get one of these webcam/Skype setups, I would be
> able to have videophone communications with someone overseas, if the
> other person also has a webcam/Skype setup for the other computer, and
> the OS platform, as long as it is one of these three, should not be a
> problem.
>
> Can someone please clarify what is required, and how it works, to use a
> webcam/Skype setup?
>
> I saw a Logitech webcam with Skype, for about $100, that is supposed
> to give 640x480 resolution, at about 30fps, and I was thinking that this
> could be a good way to communicate with people overseas, but I am not
> sure now, whether it would incur ongoing costs.
>
> Thanks in anticipation.


I only skimmed the article, but I know that over the last two months
I've done at least two videophone skype setups (on windows, fwiw) and
they definately seem to have worked for free. One client calls family
overseas on the videophone on a regular basis, and I certainly would
have heard about it if it stopped working :)

-Patrick