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[umiman]

To be fair, Steam chat is pretty good these days since they upgraded the VOIP service. Try it out.

[nenjin]

I did not too long ago. I find it's still really fuzzy compared to Skype. I haven't tried it with our normal gaming group size either, which is between 4 and 6 people.

That was probably the biggest reason I migrated over to Skype from Ventrillo. People with vent servers are common when you're playing an MMO, but once it's just you and your buddies....no one really wants to have to host a server, and Skype filled that niche quite nicely.

[lordcooper]

If you were one of the wealthiest companies in the world, that just got a 25% share of all international calls, what would you do with that?

Phase 1:  Integrate code that scans conversation for certain keywords and then sell a service to other companies where I bombard users with advertisements (by email, sms and snail mail) relevant to topics they have discussed.  Ensure my companys name is not included on any of these advertisements to guard against damage to corporate image.

Phase 2:  Expand scanning to include crime/terrorism related keywords, triggering an auto-record feature as soon as the word is spoken.  Recordings will be sifted through by employees who are under contractual NDAs and any relevant details will be provided to law enforcement officials via an unofficial informant network.  For a fee, of course.  This process may occasionally be stopped in it's tracks by a sufficient bribe.

What?  You asked...

[Aqizzar]

The prevailing theory is that Microsoft paid $Aztecempire in order to cock-block Google and Facebook, both of which were circling around Skype like horny bees.

 Just the thought of Microsoft doing this because fuck Google makes the world a better place.

The first shots have been fired in the War of the Cyberpocalypse.  But in all seriousness, if you don't think this kind of personalized grudgematch stuff isn't involved in business buyouts, you'd be surprised.

Heck, it doesn't even have to be personal.  Competing service that you can't produce?  Buy it and shut it down, simple as pie.

[breadbocks]

The prevailing theory is that Microsoft paid $Aztecempire in order to cock-block Google and Facebook, both of which were circling around Skype like horny bees.

 Just the thought of Microsoft doing this because fuck Google makes the world a better place.

The first shots have been fired in the War of the Cyberpocalypse.  But in all seriousness, if you don't think this kind of personalized grudgematch stuff isn't involved in business buyouts, you'd be surprised.

Heck, it doesn't even have to be personal.  Competing service that you can't produce?  Buy it and shut it down, simple as pie.

Twas the shot heard round the cyberworld
At the start of the revolution...

[Dwarf]

Better MS than Sony, these days.  Atleast MS keeps all records and whatnot sealed and their security up and going.  With all the failing of Sony right now (and the millions of dollars a day they're loosing), its nearly the perfect time for MS to clinch into a new market.

So, the fact that Sony is under attack by "professional" hackers and MS is not makes them the worse of the two companies?
That's about as fair as calling Windows worse than OSX because it gets viruses.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

OSX doesn't get as many viruses because it's the lesser market-share of the two.  People don't bother. There is certainly nothing in their operating system that makes it harder or anything.

I beg to disagree - Mac OS X is a UNIX derivative and as such tends to be inherently more secure. Depends on the user and the settings, of course, an popularity is also a factor - but a UNIX base really does make it more secure.

[Stworca]

Guess Skype won't be free for long 

This.

[Another]

I am not worried about Skype-to-Skype ever ceasing to be free. These calls cost the company exactly zero and there are free alternatives to fall back to like SIP clients.

What I am slightly worried about is the way ICQ went. They loaded their official client with third-party advertisings. Later they changed their private communication protocol several times to shake off unofficial clients that reverse-engineered the protocol. Alternative clients for ICQ are still going but the whole deal annoyed lots of [potential] users out of ICQ [in part towards Skype].

Along the road of inevitable eventual protocol changes I suspect that the Linux client will be forgotten to update and that Apple leadership will be (IMHO totally justified this time) uneasy about a popular piece of MS-distributed soft on their systems and really pedal usage of alternative ways to call common phones from a computer farther segmenting the user base.

It is such a good thing that electronic mail protocols are totally standardized and all our e-mails addresses are mutually compatible. It is a pity that Voice over IP hasn't yet converged on a single popular open protocol and different people use mutually-incompatible solutions.

[RedKing]

When I still did MP gaming, we liked Voon. For one thing, it supported setting up "rooms" so that you could subdivide comms, which was pretty awesome for WoW raids or similar instances where you need to have 20-30 people loosely connected that you can send a message to all at once, but at the same time break the general chatter down to small groups.

Also had channel security, to keep random griefers and/or PvP spies out.

[Thexor]

Better MS than Sony, these days.  Atleast MS keeps all records and whatnot sealed and their security up and going.  With all the failing of Sony right now (and the millions of dollars a day they're loosing), its nearly the perfect time for MS to clinch into a new market.

So, the fact that Sony is under attack by "professional" hackers and MS is not makes them the worse of the two companies?
That's about as fair as calling Windows worse than OSX because it gets viruses.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

OSX doesn't get as many viruses because it's the lesser market-share of the two.  People don't bother. There is certainly nothing in their operating system that makes it harder or anything.

No, the fact that Sony hadn't updated their security in months makes them the worse of the two companies.

[EuchreJack]

If you were one of the wealthiest companies in the world, that just got a 25% share of all international calls, what would you do with that?

Phase 1:  Integrate code that scans conversation for certain keywords and then sell a service to other companies where I bombard users with advertisements (by email, sms and snail mail) relevant to topics they have discussed.  Ensure my companys name is not included on any of these advertisements to guard against damage to corporate image.

Phase 2:  Expand scanning to include crime/terrorism related keywords, triggering an auto-record feature as soon as the word is spoken.  Recordings will be sifted through by employees who are under contractual NDAs and any relevant details will be provided to law enforcement officials via an unofficial informant network.  For a fee, of course.  This process may occasionally be stopped in it's tracks by a sufficient bribe.

What?  You asked...

Do you work for Google?  You should...

Edit: Actually, that is a bit unfair.  While "Phase 1" is Google's business model to a T, they are quite opposed to "Phase 2".  They want to keep all their user info for themselves, and share with nobody.

[lordcooper]

If you were one of the wealthiest companies in the world, that just got a 25% share of all international calls, what would you do with that?

Phase 1:  Integrate code that scans conversation for certain keywords and then sell a service to other companies where I bombard users with advertisements (by email, sms and snail mail) relevant to topics they have discussed.  Ensure my companys name is not included on any of these advertisements to guard against damage to corporate image.

Phase 2:  Expand scanning to include crime/terrorism related keywords, triggering an auto-record feature as soon as the word is spoken.  Recordings will be sifted through by employees who are under contractual NDAs and any relevant details will be provided to law enforcement officials via an unofficial informant network.  For a fee, of course.  This process may occasionally be stopped in it's tracks by a sufficient bribe.

What?  You asked...

Do you work for Google?  You should...

Edit: Actually, that is a bit unfair.  While "Phase 1" is Google's business model to a T, they are quite opposed to "Phase 2".  They want to keep all their user info for themselves, and share with nobody.

Oh no, I'd be far more invasive.  We're talking multiple adverts through your door each day, some obvious, some disguised as news or government recommendations.  SMS messages and emails every half hour or so.  Of course, this wouldn't start immediately.  It would be gradually phased in, increasing in frequency and amount of members (so nobody suspects my company) over time.

Another idea would be to automatically collect market research information and sell that on to relevant business and/or governments.

[Nikov]

Alternately Skype will just get bundled with the 360 and Windows, then be paid for with ad bars in the Skype window.

BUT THEN THE SKY WILL FALL.

[nenjin]

Alternately Skype will just get bundled with the 360 and Windows, then be paid for with ad bars in the Skype window.

BUT THEN THE SKY WILL FALL.

[Darvi]

FFFFFUUUUUU!

W're royally screwed if that happens.

That is, you are.