At Tony Perkins' AlwaysOn-Network conference today in Palo Alto there was a video interview with Skype CEO Niklas Zennström and their lead VC investor Tim Draper. The interview is live over Skype's forthcoming video service. If you haven't tried Skype and you need to call overseas, you should drop everythign, go to www.skype.com, download it and try it out. Skype is an extremely scalable Voice Over IP solution (over 40 million active users) that makes phone calls on the network free (or nearly so).
Like most hot startups, Skype is built on a completely open source infrastructure. (That seems to be a common thread here at the AlwaysOn Conference.) I got sick of Cingular's roaming charges of $1 - $2 a minute and $500 cellular phone bills form overseas calls. So I downloaded Skype, bought a $20 headset and $10 SkypeOut account. I can call other MySQLers who have SKype for free and the quality is incredible. I can call Kaj in Sweden or Robin in Louisville and it sounds like they're in the room next door. The communications is richer and it feels more connected.
For a company like MySQL which has employees in more than 20 countries this is one way to scale our communications without spending a fortune. If I need to call a regular land line or cell phone it costs pennies per minute. Skype isn't perfect (it occasionally has glitches if there's a reduction in bandwidth) but it sure beats the heck out of the alternatives. Its simple to download, no configuration is required and runs on most popular platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux even PocketPC.
Like most hot startups, Skype is built on a completely open source infrastructure. (That seems to be a common thread here at the AlwaysOn Conference.) I got sick of Cingular's roaming charges of $1 - $2 a minute and $500 cellular phone bills form overseas calls. So I downloaded Skype, bought a $20 headset and $10 SkypeOut account. I can call other MySQLers who have SKype for free and the quality is incredible. I can call Kaj in Sweden or Robin in Louisville and it sounds like they're in the room next door. The communications is richer and it feels more connected.
For a company like MySQL which has employees in more than 20 countries this is one way to scale our communications without spending a fortune. If I need to call a regular land line or cell phone it costs pennies per minute. Skype isn't perfect (it occasionally has glitches if there's a reduction in bandwidth) but it sure beats the heck out of the alternatives. Its simple to download, no configuration is required and runs on most popular platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux even PocketPC.
- AlwaysOn Network: Video Interview with Skype
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