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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (25670)	3/2/2008 1:26:23 PM
From: axial	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 46821

Hi Frank - This dialogue is taking an interesting twist; I've always considered Skype to be an exploit. A very successful one, to be sure - but is it not true that Skype (which was free, itself) allowed users to piggyback their VoIP calls on network infrastructure without end-user cost? I'm not flying the operator/carrier flag, but their view is that Skype trespasses on their "property" without payment. From their standpoint, Skype would certainly be a non-standard app - but is it? Because if Skype weren't designed to work within network IP standards, it wouldn't work at all. The question of cost aside, what makes Skype "better" than, say, Vonage as a VoIP app? Does Vonage ignore standards? Doesn't Skype rely (when terminating at a POTS destination) on standards? [I'm not sure enough of how Skype works other than that]. Taking things a little further, let's go straight to malware which can be applications working at many different levels. Malware designed for Windows is targeted at the largest installed base in the world: is that a standard? Maybe not a de jure standard, but certainly a de facto standard. So those script kiddies who want to make their mark, who want the widest possible success, target Windows: they attack the OS standard. In that sense, their software is absolutely standards-based, because if it weren't, its success (impact) would be diminished. Yes, they can write to Linux, or any other OS - but the biggest "market" is the standard. Netscape was an app distributed free. Had it not run on Windows, would it have been a success? Is there a Skype for Windows? Getting away from specifics, the principle is that whether you're writing malware or end-user friendly applications, you want to reach the widest possible audience - thus maximizing your chances of success. To the extent that an app creates operability or interoperability problems (and thus, functionality problems) by non-adherence to standards, its chances of success are proportionally diminished. Jim