Much has been made of the Skype numbers, recently. Sandvine reports that 46% of VoIP minutes are Skype, and that other PC based competitors (Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo) are a distant second. True, but for how long? The magic of Skype is sound quality, and the fact that it punches through firewalls so effortlessly. The sound quality is based on the fabulous Global IP Sound infrastructure, which Microsoft has just licensed. And surely Microsoft must be able to devise/implement a reliable firewall traversal scheme.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
