[linux-audio-user] fighting skype ...

[Russell Hanaghan]

Rob wrote:

>On Friday 18 March 2005 16:59, Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:
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>>That is my impression as well. But, how to convince management that
>>the current most popular solution is not the best thing for the
>>organization to roll out just because it's what has made the first
>>big splash in the general population ....
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>Well, you could take the high road....
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>"Skype might be popular, but it's not a standard and it's not free 
>software.  Sure, you don't have to pay for it now, but it could be 
>they'll start putting more and more obtrusive ads in it or charging 
>per seat or per minute for business users.  We would have no control 
>over any of that."
>
>Or you could take the FUD road.
>
>"Skype?  Didn't you know it's from the guys who wrote Kazaa?  I sure 
>hope you're putting more money in the budget for virus cleaning and 
>intrusion recovery.  Not to mention angry users."
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Point of fact, as I have been told from a senior VP, it is in fact 
written by the guys who started Napster. Skype uses our backbone for its 
bandwidth.

Not sure where all the "land mines" are...  It's free! All they want to 
charge for is calls terminating on the PSTN. No, it's not open 
source....but as I recall, that didn t matter when it was being tested 
for Jamming / collaborating across the net?  Many still use windows 
don't they??

And when its all said and done...do we really care *that* much here?  If 
the app doesnt do what u want it to do....don't use it. If it does and 
they want bux...oh well. You have a choice.

>  
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>>I'm afraid of management getting caught up in hype, offering a
>>service to users and down the road realizing that they are locked
>>into a proprietary protocol. I just did some googling and realize
>>my fears are founded. The skype protocol is entirely closed as far
>>as I can tell.
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>I'm sure it'll eventually be broken if it becomes a de facto standard 
>(c.f. iTunes), but by then they may have been bought by someone 
>bigger or gotten rich enough to try to suppress open implementations 
>of their protocol via patents or whatever.
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>>Basically what is wanted is a way for people (most of whom probably
>>don't run linux or care at all about Free Software) who aren't able
>>to get through during our call-in shows to leave messages without
>>paying the toll free (for the caller) charges of using the PSTN.
>>Skype offers a viable option for that, _now_. While I can't help
>>feeling that it is a slippery slope that will come back to bite the
>>organization in the future ... I also cannot offer a Free
>>alternative with the same ease of use and practically non-existant
>>barrier to entry for the potential callers.
>>    
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>
>Have you tried PhoneGaim under windows?  I haven't, but I have 
>converted dozens of AIM and Yahoo users to Gaim under Windows, with 
>only one or two people switching back (because of the lack of webcam 
>support.)  Either way you're gonna have to do tech support for 
>whatever you tell your people to use.  If it does come down to "we're 
>using skype, and that's that", why not support both?
>
>Rob
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