Can it be done? Sure. Just because no one's done it yet doesn't mean it can't be done. Is Skype doing it? Despite all the doom and gloom here, no, there is no spyware with Skype.

Of course it can. Viruses too. Mac OS X only makes it harder for a virus or spyware to get into your system.

There are countless worms and trojan horses written for any UNIX flavor you can name. So, Mac OS is also vulnerable to these types of attacks. The only thing that really protects us is the really low market share Apple has on the desktop. For some reason (some say it's not as fun to hack 2% of desktop market share, some say it is because hacking 2% of the desktop market share doesn't get you noticed...), virus, worms and spyware authors have not targeted the mac. The day one does, however, buckle up and start getting as paranoid as our windows-using friends.

Skype is amazing. Download it and use it in the two ways it was meant to be used:

1. talking to others who have installed Skype on their computers (Mac and PC). FREE. The sound quality can be better than any phone conversation (or iChat) that I've ever had, and I spend my day on the phone.

2. call most any phone in the world for just under 2¢ US per minute.

There may be many other programs out there that do this equally as well, or even better. Great, I don't care. Skype is stable, an easy interface, cross-platform and I still get a visceral thrill every time I talk to my web designer, this guy living in a small apartment outside of New Delhi (who I found on Craigslist). It's clearer than any phone conversation. I hear every nuance.

As for the comments about "backgrounds of the designers"... I say people worry too much. Truly. They worry too much about stuff that doesn't matter.

As for it being a close proprietary system... I don't care if it's closed or open or half open or even sideways. It's free, or at 2¢/minute, really close to free.

Just as a complement to the "it simply works"-argument:

http://www.skype.com/security/skype-sb-2005-02.html
http://www.skype.com/security/skype-sb-2005-03.html

Skype client software can be crashed over the network on Linux, Mac OS X and that other OS I constantly forget about.
Heap overflow occurs, there are no known exploits to execute code as of toaday, so it just crashes.

We're gonna see a lot more sec-trouble with VoIP and obviously, open, standard-based systems will be easier to check and fix.

SkypeOut is free!
 

SkypeOut is free to 800 phone numbers.

You can easily use this as a work-around to make a phone call in the USA, just dial 800.373.3411 (information with ads) and have the call directly connected!

Jacques

I tried Skype a number of years ago but sort of wrote it off and hadn't looked into it until I started hearing a buzz about it again - including some refrences in Macworld. I'm getting pretty fed up with Verizon's (my sole phone resource for the past two years) overpriced paltry offerings and will be moving into an establishment with broadband internet soon. This means that some sort of VoIP set up would be a very cost-effective as well as practical application for me.

I am looking for other's suggestions as to ways that I could still have a physical telephone that would then connect to my machine and be used with some sort of VoIP technology. I've also heard rumor of WiFi mobile phones. Any information about either of these tech's would be greatly appreciated. I'll be doing some research on it myself and will post any pertinent data I find back into the thread.

-edit

Well with a little Googling I'm finding that getting an RJ/11 to USB adapter with which to connect a regular telephone to your computer is as easy as searching eBay and dropping $25. The WiFi phone situation also looks pretty interesting. These setups seem to be similar to cellphone packages in which you pay a per/month charge and can then use your wifi phone on any open wifi network.

Are there any experts around here would could provide more information regarding wifi phones used solely on a home network. Is it possible to set up your own "VoIP server" (pardon if this isn't a 1337 term) so that you wouldn't have to use a wifi phone provider.

I use Skype often for international calls, cheap. The audio has definitely improved on my end, over the past few months.

---

It's quality is notable different than iChat.

iChat I find is consistant and clean, but low and muffled a bit. You can barely hear anything except the voice itself. The high ends seem to be all cut off, due to their efficient compression scheme.

Skype has audio artifacts and distortion, but it is much louder and crisper - and you can hear ALL that the mic picks up in the room.

Another funny thing, you can actually call the same person - on BOTH clients at the very same time! They blend pretty well when done, but it's not the best. It's a good way to switch back and forth to check which better suites you though.

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Skype to Skype works very well and is instant - I've called China a few times, no problems or delays at all. In the regard of client to client, Skype definitely has one distinct advantage - it works regardless of platform. iChat is only Mac to Mac - and the sad reality still stands, there are too many Wintel boxes out there.

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I've given up on landlines. I use my cell nearly exclusively, then Skype for international phone calls - or when I run low in minutes. Works good for me and family!

Jacques

im a big fan of skype as well i bought some skypeout minutes it works really well even on my ibook g3. i hope we get the video conferencing abilities that the PC version has. i know ichat has it but i want it with skype as well.

Skype is great! I hear voldenuit doing a lot of complaining but i don't recall reading what service (and I don't mean technologies) he would recommend.

I wanted a soft phone feature for my mac. Vonage offered me $25/month (not bad) + $10 for the softphone feature so it would be at least $35/month. This didn't include a setup fee. I looked into other, smaller VoIP companies but the prices were comparable.

The basic Skype can do what AIM, iChat and others can do, except it markets its audio features and not it's text features. Though, the real diference is the incoming and outgoing phone service, which is why I love it. $.02USD/min for an outgoing call for SkypeOUT and $30USD/year for a phone number for SkypeIN. Who can come close to beating that?

I spend in a year what Vonage wants to charge me for just over a month.

I can't speak for the other OSs, but their Mac app is excellent.

Also, I don't know which of these VoIP technologies is best but i really don't care either. I'm not an elitist, so a few K/sec saved isn't going to affect my life.

The funny thing is to read it on a minority platform forum. The problem with something like skype (which works and is all the practical things everybody says around here), interoperability disappears. It's up to ebay whether we are part of it. Had it not been for the background efforts of techies trying to keep things interoperable, there is a lot of things than us Mac users wouldn't be able to do to its full extent, like post on the Net. You'd have to use Windows. That's not happening because some people are working on it by doing things like Mozilla, Safari and its konkeror engine.

interoperability is not to be taken for granted :


http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=48569

If Apple doesn't manage to carve out a bigger market share, Skype might just stop OSX development and concentrate on Vista and XP. That won't be a problem if skype has not marginalised open standards VOIP technologies...

I hope they do the video for OSX. My familly and all my close friends are abroad so that matters to me a lot.

The short answer: It's FREE service is no different from AIM, iChat, Y!, etc. You only pay when you want to send or recieve from a TelCo. This is because it has to leave the internet and connect to PBX telephone system.

Personally, I'm an American and don't know another living soul on Skype. I use iChat to connect ot all my iChat/AIM folk. I use Skype to send/recieve calls next to nothing.

America is only 1/8th of Skype's customers, while eBay's customers are mostly American. $2.6 Billion USD seems quite high but maybe the purchase is not as dumb as I first thought.

Skype and Intel cut exclusive deal leaving AMD out in the cold
 

Skype will enforce artificial limits on their software when it doesn't run on a DualCore Intel chip:

http://news.com.com/When+Intel+calls...96.html?tag=nl

That is the kind of abusive business deal that really makes me vomit...

I don't have a problem with it. This info makes me think that they actually worked together to optimize Skype for the processor instead of some back alley dealing...

"Intel approached Skype with its plan to optimize code on its chips for Skype's software so users would have a good experience while hosting a multiperson conference call, Crooke said.
...
The 10-way calling feature will be exclusive to Intel's chips for a limited time, Gomez said. Skype is not releasing the time frame for the expiration of the exclusive agreement, he said."

Skype - 10 minute gift
 

A bit off topic, but of note - if you go to your Skype account TODAY (2/14), click on the 'free 10 minutes' gift there to add to your account.

Jacques

Thanks Jacques! I rarely log into the webpage. I wouldn't have known of it otherwise.

perhaps a bit off-topic, but I've been using mainly gizmo project (don't ask me why, it just looks nice and I kinda felt like skype was going more and more commercial, not that I mind about that, but I just wanted to keep an eye on other products that do the same...so I ended up using gizmo now).
It has a very nice interface, works like a charm, isn't much better or worse then skype though..just personal taste I guess..but if you're interested just give it a try.
http://www.gizmoproject.com/

just some extra info from wikipedia:

Since the Gizmo Project is based on SIP, it can interoperate with other SIP-based networks directly. This includes the popular PBX program Asterisk, the Earthlink service, and Gnome Phone. This avoids the phone system and is thus free of charge.
The Gizmo Project software also has features that Skype lacks, or offers add an additional fee. Built-in recording, free voicemail, and the previously mentioned interoperability are the main advantages that Gizmo has over Skype.

(with most of my good friends I now just use ventrillo because it's just easier and all of us are online most of the time anyway).

laters.