[*] Fallout of Skype purchase from Microsoft

[Bill Reid]

I generally agree with what you are saying John but in reality Sean is correct. 
Skype just works.

The big problem with non-Skype VoIP solutions is still the lack of a global 
directory. I was hoping that your email address would be the VoIP UID for 
contacting people but that has not happened. All the infrastructure is there to 
allow this but it is just not implemented. Once you get the PSTN part up we seem 
to stop at that point. My impression is that almost all corporate VoIP systems 
do not allow contact from the Internet. You have to go through a PSTN gateway. 
Like IM if you have to know the system that a person is on before making contact 
then it is basically broken. So far I think the PSTN and email are the only 
systems that do not have this requirement.

Skype of course is not a solution to this problem but like Facebook it wins by 
having the most members.

-- Bill

On 26/05/11 09:29, John Lange wrote:
> Personally I've always failed to see the appeal of skype since it's
> something that could be replicated using other voip related tools with
> the added benefit of being tied to a larger database of potential
> users that you could reach.