Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 04:24:11 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Jon Radel <jon@radel.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Skyip? question Message-ID: <20110512042411.82e235f1.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4DCB3682.3090604@radel.com> References: <20110512002007.GA2321@thought.org> <4DCB3682.3090604@radel.com>
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On Wed, 11 May 2011 21:23:14 -0400, Jon Radel <jon@radel.com> wrote: > > On 5/11/11 8:20 PM, Gary Kline wrote: > > > (How hard/easy woold be be to hack out a better one...or do GOOG and YHOO > > already have their own versions of skyip?) > > > > Not all that trivial, really, but, frankly, rather beside the point. > The value of communications networks is more than the technology, it's > in whom you can communicate with using it. And keep in mind the data "in the background": WHO communi- cates? WHERE does he communicate from, with WHOM, WHEN? Tech- nology allows answering questions even about WHAT has been spoken. Relations between individuals and there interests can be concluded from such communication profiles. They are of high value for advertising and industry propaganda mechanisms. > So even if you were to hack > out something more elegant than Skype, the vast majority of the world > wouldn't care in the slightest, as they want to talk to their friends, > family, and business associates, and have no interest in talking to you > and the 137 hacking buddies who built the better mousetrap. I may say that there is already a high-quality alternative (among others), it's called Ekiga. It's not as widespread as "Skype", I agree. And google also offers a similar tool, but as I've never used it, I can't recall the name. It's also not as "well known" as "Skype" which got a synonym for IP-based tele- phony utilizing a computer. With upcoming versions of "Windows", I think MICROS~1 will integrate "Skype" technology into their system, while they make sure that this technology - due to the lack of inter- face program - can't be used on other systems (Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, but also Android). So I think they bought "Skype", a company that _never_ made "the big bucks" in order to obtain their technology and their subscribers for their own land. They will surely do anything for further "vendor lock-in" - i. e. make sure nobody except them defines the terms of use of the former "Skype" infrastructures (in general, not in a technical sense). > There's a reason the PSTN still does so well despite its 19th century, > low-bandwidth, voice-only roots. Some people do not "evolve" the technology and service providers want them to. :-) > BTW, I believe this discussion belongs over in the discussion list, as > it has nothing to do with FreeBSD, so I will sin no more after this. I think it _will_ have impact to FreeBSD sooner or later in a form that "Skype" will be unusable at some point in time, or will be quite limited in what you can actually do with it. When MICROS~1 incorporates the "Skype" customer base... who knows, maybe you'll soon need a "Hotmail" account to call someone by phone, as soon as MICROS~1 got a "real" phone operator. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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