Maximum PC Skype RSS Feed

Skype Founders Reach Settlement With Ebay and Others

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:27:58 -0600

It looks like you can expect Skype to continue functioning as normal. A settlement has finally been reached with the parties, including eBay and Skype founders, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. The legal battle started when eBay agreed to sell a 65% stake in Skype to Silver Lake Partners on September 1st. The founders sued, claiming that eBay was engaging in copyright infringement. As it turns out, eBay never actually owned the core technology behind Skype, called Global Index..

According to the settlement, Zennström and Friis, will join the investor group that is purchasing Skype. They will contribute software from their new venture, Joltid. In return, they will receive a 14% stake in Skype. When the sale is completed, eBay will be paid a cool $1.9 billion. Though, this is much less than the original purchase price for Skype. Though, the online auction house will also retain 30% of Skype.

Getting all the technology under one roof again should settle the issue of Skype’s intellectual property once and for all. Do you use Skype on a regular basis? Were you worried about its future?

Murphy's Law: What is Skype Up To?

David Murphy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0600

The recent announcement of Skype turning quote-unquote open source has me twirling a finger with delicious glee. It's not that I dislike Skype. And it's not that I'm about to get into one of my 1,500-word debates on the differences between the definition of "free" and "open-source," I promise. This is nevertheless an important premise of Skype's entire move, as some Internet commenters are crying foul that Skype is only half-opening its popular application to the crowd. The GUI code will be yours to play with as you please. The underlying Skype protocol... nope!

To them I say: Duh.

I don't want to put words where they don't exist, but I'm willing to bet that Skype's sudden shift toward open-source waters has more to do with applying a giant, universal band-aid to staggered Linux development. It's not quite an altruistic gift to the community so much as it is a package and a bow with the phrase, "you fix it" written on the label. And that's fine. Let the community create the functional GUIs for Skype. It would be suicide for the company to release its heavily encrypted voice protocols for common use.

So what, then, is Skype up to?

Stronger Integration

Linux isn't just for geeks in the basement anymore. The open-source operating system powers an innumerable amount of devices, including super-small netbook PCs, equally small tablet PCs, mobile phones, et cetera. While opening up the Linux GUI still requires the underlying architecture of the Skype client in order to have any semblance of functionality, this is at least a first step toward smoothing the integration of Skype into Linux-based devices of all shapes and sizes. Developers could freely embed the Skype client and skin it to match the look and feel of a particular device--surely a boon versus, say, waiting for Skype to come into the app center of-sorts for each and every permutation of product.

Third-Party Takeover

And we now venture into the realm of the hypothetical. Imagine, if you will, that Skype's opening of the Linux GUI is but the first step in a gradual elimination of the Skype Client as a whole. Sure, this downloadable application would still exist for those that care to use it, but what if Skype was looking to offload the client's functionality into any software platform that wants to take it? Skype would still control the underlying protocol (depending on how the legal battle sorts out), yet this "naked GUI" approach, as it's been dubbed, would allow one to perform the same call functions using an application like Pidgin, for example.

For consumers, this approach would be a marvelous way to integrate Skype into existing "favorite applications." But there's also a fairly large flaw surrounding this plan. Skype would need to come up with some ingenious way to keep its services relevant, because you can bet that I'd want to add more VoIP services than just Skype to my communications app of choice. I'd love to be able to receive calls on Skype and call other people for free on Skype... but if there was a way to use a cheaper provider for outbound calls, I'd cast off the Skype experience like a boot on the end of a fishing line. Integration with third-party apps is truly a double-edged sword.

Skype as a Service?

Suppose Skype opts for option two and extends its service into third-party applications. What if this is not a measure of altruism, but rather, an investment? With countless developers around the world working on their own programming variants that somehow tie back into the underlying Skype protocol, what's to stop this mass intelligence from coming up with The Next Best Thing for Skype integration?

Both TechCrunch and I envision a future where even the desktop client has been rendered useless by the Skype service. No more installations; no more new applications to load up. Skype would be as permanent and unobtrusive a fixture in your operating system as Windows Contacts. Or, better still, you'd be able to dial up Skype directly through a Web application. As soon as you were to click on a phone number, the call would launch right in your browser of choice.

These are all far-off ideas. Some could even be ideas that only exist in a dreamy haze. Skype is promising a "larger offering" to come centered on its open-source Linux GUI announcement. When that big thing happens, do give me a ring.

David Murphy (@ Acererak) is a technology journalist and former Maximum PC editor. He writes weekly columns about the wide world of open-source as well as weekly roundups of awesome, freebie software. Befriend him on Twitter, especially if you have an awesome app or game you're dying to recommend!

Skype Announces Open Source Client for Linux

Jason Barry — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:07:15 -0600

Skype announced that an open source version of the Linux client is currently under development in a blog post by Stanislav Karchebny. “There's an open source version of Linux client being developed. This will be a part of a larger offering, but we can't tell you much about that right now," wrote Karchebny.

The original Linux client had been released several years ago, but a new open source client could mean community focused developments. Skype expects that “having an open-source user interface will help us get adopted in the multicultural land of Linux distributions, as well as on other platforms, and will speed up further development.”

Within the comments of the post, users were hoping to see Skype also unlock the Skype Protocol to the open source community. Unless that is part of the “larger offering”, that Karchebny mentions, it appears for the moment that their plans are to open only the source to client interface.

Users are already clamoring for a launch date.

iNum Introduces HD Voice Calling to Skype

Bart Salisbury — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:04:04 -0500

Thinking of going global? It just got a little easier. Voxbone, a Bussells-based provider of international VoIP origination services and telephone numbers will announce tomorrow its global phone number service, iNum, will support high-definition voice calling among VoIP networks, including Skype.

A global phone number is like one assigned by Google Voice: yours to keep wherever you choose to wander. Global numbers came into being when the International Telephone Union (ITU) created the 883 code, which refers to the Internet rather than a country. When the 883 code is used Voxbone gets your call, routes it to the nearest Internet Service Provider (ISP), then disconnects itself so you can use the lower cost service.

The quality of your call depends on the codec used. Skype uses the SILK super wideband audio codec. Voxbone will instead use the HD wideband codec G.722. Voxbone will provide the necessary transcoding. And it plans to offer transcoding for additional codecs in the future.

How big a deal this is depends on who you ask. Robin Wauters of TechCrunch writes: “We should note there is some industry criticism around the concept of ‘HD calling’, which at times gets billed as a fancy new term that doesn’t describe anything earth-shatteringly new or innovative and something which there is no demand for.”

Image Credit: Voxbone, Hans Jørn Storgaard Andersen/Wikipedia Commons

A Fan of Portable Apps? Now You Can Carry Skype and Google Chrome in Your Pocket

Ryan Whitwam — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:53:24 -0500

You know how it goes. There are times when you just need access to one of your favorite apps, but you haven’t got the time or ability to install them on whatever computer you happen to be sitting at. The Portable Apps suite has saved the day on those instances for many. Just today, Portable Apps has announced two welcome additions. You can now get portable versions of Skype and Google Chrome.

This is notable because these apps aren’t technically open-source, as previous additions to Portable Apps have been. The decision to include freeware software may not seem like a big deal, and to most it isn’t, but some open-source supporters may take issue. The new freeware apps aren’t included by default in the package, though. Like it or not, it’s nice to have choices.

Lenovo Will Bundle Skype with its New Laptop and Desktop PCs

Paul Lilly — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:56:55 -0500

Lenovo has let it be known that every single ThinkPad laptop and ThinkCentre desktop PC will come with Skype already installed.

"If you're fortunate enough to get your hands on a Lenovo ThinkPad or ThinkCentre for your home or office, be sure to keep an eye out for Skype," said Peter Parkes, Skype's chief blogger.

That's great news for private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, who bought a 65 percent share of the company last month and would like nothing more than to see Skype's market share continue to grow. While terms of the Lenovo deal have not been disclosed, there's a reason why software companies pay tidy sums to have their apps come pre-installed on OEM systems.

As for consumers, you can view it as another piece of bloatware to be nuked after first firing up your new PC, or a handy pre-install of an app you may already use anyway.

AT&T Gives Goahead for iPhone VOIP on 3G Network

Jason Barry — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:23:05 -0500

AT&T announced today that they’ll be enabling the use of VOIP on their 3G network specifically for the iPhone. Skype was extremely excited to hear the news given that 10% of all iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded the Skype application.

The announcement was initially released by AT&T in an FCC filing, soon to be published, explaining that they will open their 3G network to internet calling applications, including Skype.

It should be interesting to see where this leaves the much debated Google Voice application, rejected from the Apple App store earlier this year. While AT&T’s decision isn’t as sustainable as a government policy, it should put significant pressure on other carriers to allow similar network access.

You can find a PDF of the filing here, as well as a link to the AT&T press release.

Skype Tacks on Click-to-Call Ads

Paul Lilly — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:05:07 -0500

Some of the calls you make to landlines via Skype will soon be free. That's because after testing its click-to-call ads on the Web for several months, Skype today announced it is rolling out the new business-funded product in a partnership with European Directories.

"Partnering with European Directories is a key part of bringing our new business funded click-to-call product to market and providing advertisers with solutions that can help them connect with customers in new and innovative ways," said Don Albert, GM and VP of Americas and Advertising for Skype. "When a call is free and only one click away, we believe it can have a positive impact for a business because there are fewer barriers to start a call. That can result in more qualified leads, more engagement, and possibly a higher rate of conversion for a business."

Calls that are funded by a business will be highlighted with a blue "Free Call" button that appears anywhere online where a phone number is displayed, Skype explained. This includes search engines, internet yellow pages, and local search sites.

Image Credit: TechCrunch