HOME WEB NEWS IMAGES CLASSIFIEDS YELLOW PAGESPOLLS - SURVEYS WIKI COUNTRIES PHOTOS US UK INDIA
Cities Stocks Weather Movies Coupons Travel Blogs Health Horoscope Maps ASIA EUROPE Classifieds Yellow Pages
|
 hostels, lodging, vacation rentals, inns, motels, guest houses | ||
|
sheep skin slipper, Services and Information at SHEEPIWORLD.COM | ||
|
send flowers, flowers from, supplying flowers florists, flores, rose | ||
 1
|
|
|
This article or section contains too much jargon and may need simplification or further explanation. Please discuss this issue on the talk page, and/or remove or explain jargon terms used in the article. Editing help is available. This article has been tagged since September 2007. |
| Skype | |
|---|---|
| |
|
Screenshot | |
| Developed by | Skype Limited |
| Initial release | August 2003 |
| OS | Cross-platform |
| Available in | multilingual |
| Genre | P2P/VoIP/instant messaging/ video call/videophone |
| License | Freeware (with some paid features) |
Skype (IPA: [skaɪp], rhymes with type) is a software program created by the Swedish and Danish entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and a team of software developers: Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn based in Tallinn, Estonia.Skype - A Baltic Success Story. credit-suisse.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. Skype allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet to other Skype users free of charge and to landlines and cell phones for a fee. Additional features include instant messaging, file transfer, short message service, video conferencing and its ability to circumvent firewalls.
The Skype Group, acquired by eBay in September 2005, has headquarters in Luxembourg, with offices in London, Tallinn, Tartu, PragueJaanus Kase. Skype is expanding engineering to Prague. Skype Blogs. Retrieved on 2006-12-05. and San Jose, California. Skype experienced rapid growth in both popular usage and software development since the launch, of both its free and its paid services.
Contents |
SkypeOut allows Skype users to call traditional telephone numbers, including mobile telephones, for a fee which varies from US$0.021 per minute for most developed countries to US$2.142 per minute for calls to the dependency of Diego Garcia. From January 2007 Skype charges an equivalent of €0.039 for each SkypeOut call in addition to the ordinary rate.Connection Fee for SkypeOut Calls. skype.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-19. After 180 days of not making a SkypeOut call the Skype balance expires.
SkypeOut calls to Canada and the United States were free until January 30, 2007.
SkypeOut calls to most toll-free numbers in France (+33 800, +33 805, +33 809), Poland: (+48 800), UK: (+44 500, +44 800, +44 808) and the United States and Canada: (+1 800, +1 866, +1 888 ) are free for all Skype users, even if they do not subscribe to the SkypeOut service.Free calls to toll-free phone numbers global betaSkype Help: Skype tells me the number I am trying to call is forbidden, why is that?. SkypeOut can not call premium-rate numbers, or most toll-free numbers in other countries. Nor does it support short emergency services numbers (fire, police, ambulance) such as 112, 911, 000, and 999 which are available on other networks in different countries.
SkypeIn allows Skype users to receive calls on their computers dialed by regular phone subscribers to a local Skype phone number; local numbers are available for Australia, Brazil, Chile,Villu Arak. Four new SkypeIn countries. Skype Blogs. Retrieved on 2007-08-13. Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the United States. A Skype user anywhere can have local numbers in any of these countries, with calls to the number charged at the same rate as calls to fixed lines in the country. Some jurisdictions, including France and Norway, forbid the registration of their telephone numbers to anyone without a physical presence or citizenship in the country.
Videoconferencing was introduced in January 2006 for the Windows and Mac OS X platform clients. The Linux version 2.0, released as a beta in November 2007 with support for videoconferencing.Skype 2.0 Beta for Linux, the Great Revolution (November 7, 2007). Retrieved on 19.02.2008..
Windows Skype, starting with version 3.6.0.216, supports “High Quality Video" with quality and features (e.g. full-screen and screen-in-screen modes) claimed to be similar to middle-range video-conferencing systems. Skype User Guide Using Skype for Desk-top Video-Conferences.
| Date | Total user accounts (in millions) | Skype to Skype minutes (in billions) | Skype Out minutes (in billions) | Net revenue USD (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2006 | 95 | 6.9 | 0.7 | 35 |
| Q2 2006 | 113.1 | 7.1 | 0.8 | 44 |
| Q3 2006 | 135.9 | 6.6 | 1.1 | 50 |
| Q4 2006 | 171.2 | 7.6 | 1.5 | 66 |
| Q1 2007 | 195.5 | 7.7 | 1.3 | 79 |
| Q2 2007 | 219.6 | 7.1 | 1.3 | 90 |
| Q3 2007 | 245.7 | 6.1 | 1.4 | 98 |
| Q4 2007 | 276.3 | N/A | N/A | 115 |
As of December 31, 2007 Skype had 276 million user accounts. Users may have more than one account, and it is not possible to identify users with multiple accounts.
It was reported that 12,051,566 concurrent Skype users were online as of February 18, 2008.All-Time peak of concurrent real users.
| Date | Users 12 million in record time!. skypenumerology. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. | Days |
|---|---|---|
| 2008-02-18 | 12,000,000 | 42 |
| 2008-01-07 | 11,000,000 | 84 |
| 2007-10-15 | 10,000,000 | 259 |
| 2007-01-29 | 9,000,000 | 82 |
| 2006-11-08 | 8,000,000 | 71 |
| 2006-08-29 | 7,000,000 | 155 |
| 2006-03-27 | 6,000,000 | 66 |
| 2006-01-20 | 5,000,000 | 92 |
| 2005-10-20 | 4,000,000 | 155 |
| 2005-05-18 | 3,000,000 | 93 |
| 2005-02-14 | 2,000,000 | 117 |
| 2004-10-20 | 1,000,000 | 418 |
| 2003-08-29 | 0 | - |
The volume of international traffic routed via Skype is significant, though small compared to total global switched and VoIP traffic. Computer-to-computer traffic between Skype users in 2005 was 2.9% of international carrier traffic in 2005 and about 4.4% of the total international traffic of 264 billion minutes in 2006.International carriers\' traffic grows despite Skype popularity. TeleGeography Report and Database. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
Skype incorporates some features which tend to hide its traffic, but it is not specifically designed to thwart traffic analysis and therefore does not provide anonymous communication. Some researchers have been able to watermark the traffic so that it is identifiable even after passing through an anonymizing network [1].
Versions now exist for Microsoft Windows (2000, XP, Vista and Windows Mobile), Mac OS X (Intel and PPC) and Linux (32-bit x86 only). Under Windows Skype can be run from a USB stick without being installed on the target computer. Skype VoIP User Guide, FAQ, Hints and Resources How to run Skype from a USB stick. The Linux version runs on FreeBSD through its Linux binary compatibility layer. Skype can also run in Solaris branded zones.
The Windows user interface was developed in the Pascal-based Delphi programming language, the Linux version in C++ with Qt, and the Mac OS X version in Objective-C with Cocoa.Interview with Jaanus Kase from Skype. KDE News. Retrieved on 2006-06-13.
Skype offers its own mobile phone under the brand name Skypephone, which runs a BREW OS. Other companies produce dedicated Skype phones which connect via WiFi. Skype is available on mobile devices running Windows Mobile Skype on your mobile device. The official Symbian version is currently under development Skype is also for the PSP(Playstation Portable)when you download the 3.90 firmware update, but you need a microphone that connect to the PSP 2000 headphonesSkype for Symbian Coming. Skype is available on Symbian and Java as part of X-Series. Third party developers, such as Nimbuzz and Fring, have allowed Skype in run parallel with several other competing VoIP/IM networks in any Symbian or Java environment. Nimbuzz have made Skype available to Blackberry users. Skype was released on the PSP slim firmware 3.90 in late January, 2008.
Skype uses a proprietary Internet telephony (VoIP) network. The protocol has not been made publicly available by Skype and official applications using the protocol are closed-source. The main difference between Skype and standard VoIP clients is that Skype operates on a peer-to-peer model rather than the more usual client-server model. The Skype user directory is entirely decentralized and distributed among the nodes of the network—i.e., users\' computers—which allows the network to scale very easily to large sizes (currently about 240 million users)1 million Joost users prepare for year-end launch without a complex centralized infrastructure costly to the Skype Group.
Skype uses the processing and storage capacity of users\' computers for network operation. It accesses the hard disk several times per minute, whether or not a conversation is in progress—this can be checked by observing the HDD\'s activity indicator LED or by using a file access monitor such as FileMon.FileMon for Windows. Sysinternals. Retrieved on 2006-06-17. Skype software selects some users\' computers to be used as "supernodes" Skype FAQ How to disable Skype "SuperNodes". , consuming the user\'s internet bandwidth. Under certain conditions, Skype is reportedly willing to accept thousands of connections, but is stated to limit itself to 40 kb/s upload and download.Bruno Giussani. Swiss magazine digs deeper in social blog. Lunch over IP. Retrieved on 2006-06-17.Fear of a Skype Planet. Paul Kedrosky. Retrieved on 2006-06-17.Skype supernodes sap bandwidth. Computerworld. IDG. Retrieved on 2006-06-17.
Secure communication is a feature of Skype; encryption cannot be disabled, and is invisible to the user. Skype reportedly uses non-proprietary, widely trusted encryption techniques: RSA for key negotiation and the Advanced Encryption Standard to encrypt conversations.Skype Privacy FAQ. Skype. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
Skype provides an uncontrolled registration system for users with absolutely no proof of identity. This permits users to use the system without revealing their identity to other users. It is trivially easy, of course, for anybody to set up an account using any name; the displayed caller\'s name is no guarantee of authenticity.
|
|
It has been suggested that some of the information in this article\'s "Criticism" or "Controversy" section(s) be merged into other sections to achieve a more neutral presentation. (Discuss) |
Due to the design of the protocol, if given access to an unrestricted network connection Skype clients—running on users\' computers—can become supernodes without the knowledge or consent of the user. These supernodes coordinate the peer-to-peer network and provide data routing for other users behind more restrictive firewalls, which can generate a significant amount of traffic unrelated to the user of the machine nominated as supernode. For this reason, some network providers, such as universities, have banned the use of Skype.Ryan Paul. More universities banning Skype. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2007-01-12. The French ministry of research strongly discourages the use of Skype in all French public universities and laboratories, especially those with sensitive research, leading to an outright ban in many laboratories.Alert for the defense security officer of CNRS
A third party paper analyzing the security and methodology of Skype was presented at Black Hat Europe 2006.Philippe BIONDI and Fabrice DESCLAUX. Silver Needle in the Skype. blackhat. Retrieved on 2006-03-02. It analyzed Skype and made these observations:
Skype was also found to access BIOS datapagetable.com » Blog Archive » Skype Reads Your BIOS and Motherboard Serial Number to identify individual computers and provide DRM protection for plug-ins.Skype Security Blog - Skype Extras plug-in managerThe Register » Skype snoop agent reads mobo serial numbers
It can not be assured that Skype calls are not interceptable. Skype provides end to end encryption for connections between users however in an interview at cnet.com Skype chief security officer Kurt Sauer would not eliminate this possibility.Interview at CNet
Skype is owned by eBay, whose privacy policy is perhaps the most liberal of any large corporation - eBay claims it goes above and beyond what it is required to do by law, seeking out and giving police all the information it stores about users excluding some financial data, for which they require a subpoenaSkype security and privacy concerns, Scott Granneman, 2005-09-22, SecurityFocus.com.
SkypeOut rates are "per minute" based, contrary to the trend in charges for calls from conventional telephones[citation needed]. In some countries, many calls are charged at a specified fixed amount per call. In this method, SkypeOut is more expensive for longer calls, whereas it is cheaper for relatively short calls.
There have been complaints about Skype\'s poor customer support.Ben Charny. Skype callers: \'Customer service, please?\'. As of June 2007, Skype still does not provide a direct way of contacting its customer support, relying solely on its web portal for all related issues. There have also been criticisms of Skype blocking and disabling customer accounts from using the SkypeOut service. SKYPE Account Blocked - Skype Forums
When Skype 2.0 was released, AMD filed a lawsuit claiming the software offers 10-way conference calls on dual core Intel processors, while other chips, including all AMD chips, will only offer 5-way conference calls.Tom Krazit. AMD\'s lawyers call on Skype.
While available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (i386 platform) operating systems, there is no Skype version for the Palm OS, used in mobile devices like the Treo 700p smartphone nor for the Linux versions for different architectures.
Skype has been criticized in the Linux community for bugs and delays in the Linux version.Skype Forums: Linux Users are fed up.
The Mac OS X version lacks some of the advanced features included in Skype for Windows.[citation needed]
Users of Skype on Mac OS X report poor audio quality when connecting to Mac/Mobile clients, with newer audio engines showing more and more problems. Audio quality when connecting from Mac to Windows seem to be acceptable.
Skype cannot be used with VOIP analogue telephone adapters (ATAs), which use SIP, H323, and other protocols. Consequently, Skype users are limited to either using software phones or expensive Skype only hardware. However, there are applications that enable Skype users to connect to SIP providers Uplink Skype to SIP Adapter Software - Connect SIP to the Skype Network.
SkypeOut has been criticized because it does not support caller ID in the United States, where people frequently reject calls from unrecognized numbers. (SDS-208) Skype losing SkypeOut Customers due to lack of caller id in the US. Skype Developer Zone. The recipient sees "0123456789" instead of a real phone number. By contrast, the Gizmo service shows the user\'s call-in number on caller ID. Does my Caller-ID show when I call a regular phone? Gizmo Project FAQ.
On October 14, 2005, eBay acquired the company for €1.9 billion in cash and stock, plus an additional €1.5 billion in rewards (earn out) if goals are met by 2008.eBay Completes Acquisition of Skype. Skype. Retrieved on 2006-06-12."eBay to buy Skype in $2.6bn deal", BBC, September 12, 2005.
Skype Limited faces challenges from two main directions. Firstly it faces legal challenges to its intellectual property and secondly it faces political pressures by governments wishing to control the telecommunications systems of their respective countries.
In May 2006, the FCC successfully applied the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act to allow wiretapping on digital phone networks. Skype is not yet compliant to the Act, and has so far stated that it does not plan to comply.Can Skype Keep Its Secrets?
On June 1, 2006, Net2Phone (the Internet telephone unit of IDT Corp.) filed a lawsuit against eBay and Skype accusing the unit of infringing U.S. Patent 6,108,704, which was granted in 2000.Pallavi Gogoi. "Skype Under Attack", Business Week, McGraw Hill, June 6, 2006.
Skype is one of many companies (others include AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco) which have cooperated with the Chinese government in implementing a system of Internet censorship in the People\'s Republic of China. Niklas Zennström, chief executive to Skype, told reporters that its joint venture partner in China is operating in compliance with domestic law. "TOM Online had implemented a text filter, which is what everyone else in that market is doing," said Zennström. "Those are the regulations," he said. "I may like or not like the laws and regulations to operate businesses in the UK or Germany or the US, but if I do business there I choose to comply with those laws and regulations. I can try to lobby to change them, but I need to comply with them. China in that way is not different.""Skype says texts are censored by China", FT.com, Financial Times, April 18, 2006.
Since late September, users in China trying to download the Skype software are redirected to the TOM site from which a modified Chinese version can be downloaded. Activists in China are warning about the possibility that TOM\'s versions have or will have more trojan capability.Dynamic Internet Technology Inc. Alleges Skype Redirects Users in China to Censorware Version - Ten Days After Users Are Able To Download Freegate Software Through Skype, TMCnet, September 24, 2007
| Instant messaging clients (and comparison of clients and protocols) | |
|---|---|
| Proprietary and/or single protocol | AIM · Gadu-Gadu · Microsoft Messenger for Mac · MySpaceIM · Skype · Tencent QQ · WLM (formerly MSN Messenger) · Yahoo! Messenger |
| Multi-protocol: | Adium · Instantbird · Kopete · Miranda IM · Pidgin · QIP Infium · SIM · Trillian |
| Jabber/XMPP: | Exodus · Google Talk · JAJC · Psi · Tkabber · Gajim · Spark · Coccinella |
| ICQ: | ICQ · QIP 2005 · &RQ · R&Q · Gim-ICQ |
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
