On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 14:15:56 -0800, Jeff_W <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Bob Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > Jeff_W wrote:
> >
> > > Hum; but is it better? They claim to be able to offer the service
> > > to dialup clients as well - not just broadband users.
Several of the free codecs for VOIP ('speex' in particular) claim to
be suitable for use over a dialup connection.
> I think "better" in this case is "does the product perform better
> than comparable products?". If Skype has superior sound and transmission
> and is easier to use than I'd say it was better. Skype doesn't claim
> that you can use their product with other similar products; I have
> no idea if FWN's product does either. As for sticking to standards
> I suspect there isn't much point to it in the early stages of
> development or if the existing standards have a limiting effect
> on performance improvement. If what Skypes is doing turns out to be
> significantly "better" it'll probably become the standard, no?
I think the point kbob was making is that there are multiple axes of
better and worse,
several of these are technical (bitrate, sampling freq.,
fault-tolerance, compression)
but some of the more important ones are social.
Does it provide a platform on which others can innovate freely.
Do license restrictions make it impossible to distribute/redistribute
client programs without charge.
Does the emerging standard tie users to one service provider or do
they have a competitive market.
As far as I know Skype fails all three of those, and a few others;
check their TOS, are they reserving the right to capture and profit
from your personal information including contact information, calling
patterns and social network?
I'm not too worried, skype is only one of many competitors, and even
if they do succeed at attaining takeoff in some markets, they are a
late-entrant and won't be able to capture the telco market without
licensing their IP to others.
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