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While Skype is indeed a massive lock-in because it's proprietary end to end I wouldn't say FaceTime is. Given how 99% of it is standard, I expect "anyone" with
by lloeki 16y ago
While Skype is indeed a massive lock-in because it's proprietary end to end I wouldn't say FaceTime is. Given how 99% of it is standard, I expect "anyone" with enough intent could reverse engineer the glue. It has been done for AirTunes/AirPlay already. I'd say it's in the same state as was GTalk when it started and Jingle was not published at the time.
- car 16y agoAgreed, I was quite happy to see Apple use the most current IETF standards, alas with some secret sauce (the missing 1%). However, the fact that FaceTime only works through Apple's SIP and NAT traversal infrastructure (assumed, since they seem to use TURN) effectively makes them the owners of all FaceTime users identity. We will have to see how much they open things up. My guess would be that they allow others to make FaceTime clients, but keep control of the server side. In theory, Apple could make an end-run around the telcos, since they will eventually have a huge directory of phone numbers and email addresses for all FaceTime users. At that point the carriers truly become a dumb pipe. Maybe that is Apple's plan, after all.