Dear Free Software Community,

Please stop telling people to use Skype.
Thanks.
matt
PS. In case you hadn’t noticed Skype is not free software.

Posted by Matt Lee

Artist, writer, director and recovering free software user.

2 Replies to “Dear Free Software Community,”

  1. It’s worth noting their service is more expensive than many alternative (open standard) suppliers, has limited hardware options and uses shed loads of bandwidth.
    Within the last month, they have had one whole system outage[0] – and a virus circulating through the network[1].
    Not sure it’s a company I would like to entrust with my telephony, especially when the only current benefit is it’s large userbase for non PSTN calls.
    [0] http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2277632.ece
    [1] http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2007/09/on_the_worm_that_affects_skype.html

    Reply

  2. They are, however, the largest VOIP provider currently in existance for a reason.
    1) their software works
    2) it works well
    3) they’ve managed to bundle secondary features well
    4) They have reached critical mass usage for my (20 yr old) generation.

    Reply

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