5 ms·

There's widespread speculation that they moved away from P2P because it made it harder for the NSA to wiretap, which the NSA gained the ability to do right befo

There's widespread speculation that they moved away from P2P because it made it harder for the NSA to wiretap, which the NSA gained the ability to do right before the acquisition[0]. Keep in mind I did say speculation, but the NSA definitely seems to have gained increase ease at wiretapping Skype in early 2011 which is also when Microsoft was negotiating/purchasing Skype. From [0]: > "Sustained Skype collection began in Feb 2011," reads a National Security Agency (NSA) training document Which is within two months of when Microsoft publicly announced acquisition. [0] http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/inside-the-nsa-s-war-on-internet-security-a-1010361.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/inside-the-nsa-s...

tinus_hn 9y ago
Direct connections for audio or video calls are a patented ‘invention’ that is why the major vendors like Microsoft and also Apple changed to server based communication.
- ams6110 9y ago
  Good grief. Direct connect audio calls were invented over a century ago. It was called the "telephone" Switched calls were invented decades ago. How can a patent still be valid?
  - dmurray 9y ago
    "X, but on a computer" was a popular way of getting new patents which generally worked in the US until the Alice Corp Supreme Court decision of 2014. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Corp._v._CLS_Bank_International https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Corp._v._CLS_Bank_Inte...
- jacquesm 9y ago
  There were a number of patent trolls that tried to milk this but if I could resist them then certainly so could the likes of Microsoft. This is definitely not the reason for the switch. See also: https://jacquesmattheij.com/my-brush-with-a-patent-troll https://jacquesmattheij.com/my-brush-with-a-patent-troll
  - tinus_hn 9y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirnetX#Patents https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirnetX#Patents Unlike these big companies you probably don’t stand to lose half a billion dollar. You’re just going to go bankrupt.
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      Note they settled for < $.1 / user and Skype kept happily rolling along.
      - tinus_hn 9y ago
        $0.10 per non paying user is a lot of money and you don’t know what the rest of the terms were. Apple on the other hand chose the strategy you are advocating and they already lost over $400000000 and probably a ton of legal costs.
        jacquesm 9y ago
        Check how much MS paid for Skype.
dmitriid 9y ago
The primary reason was the world switching primarily to mobile. You can't run peer-to-peer networks (that include audio and video) off of mobile phones and mobile networks.

tinus_hn 9y ago

Direct connections for audio or video calls are a patented ‘invention’ that is why the major vendors like Microsoft and also Apple changed to server based communication.

ams6110 9y ago
Good grief. Direct connect audio calls were invented over a century ago. It was called the "telephone" Switched calls were invented decades ago. How can a patent still be valid?
- dmurray 9y ago
  "X, but on a computer" was a popular way of getting new patents which generally worked in the US until the Alice Corp Supreme Court decision of 2014. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Corp._v._CLS_Bank_International https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Corp._v._CLS_Bank_Inte...
jacquesm 9y ago
There were a number of patent trolls that tried to milk this but if I could resist them then certainly so could the likes of Microsoft. This is definitely not the reason for the switch. See also: https://jacquesmattheij.com/my-brush-with-a-patent-troll https://jacquesmattheij.com/my-brush-with-a-patent-troll
- tinus_hn 9y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirnetX#Patents https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirnetX#Patents Unlike these big companies you probably don’t stand to lose half a billion dollar. You’re just going to go bankrupt.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Note they settled for < $.1 / user and Skype kept happily rolling along.
    - tinus_hn 9y ago
      $0.10 per non paying user is a lot of money and you don’t know what the rest of the terms were. Apple on the other hand chose the strategy you are advocating and they already lost over $400000000 and probably a ton of legal costs.
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        Check how much MS paid for Skype.

dmitriid 9y ago

The primary reason was the world switching primarily to mobile. You can't run peer-to-peer networks (that include audio and video) off of mobile phones and mobile networks.