5 ms·

This is a great chance for Google to take over the market with an open source VOIP alternative. Microsoft has already started driving Skype into the ground, and

This is a great chance for Google to take over the market with an open source VOIP alternative. Microsoft has already started driving Skype into the ground, and if Google can integrate their new service well with Android, they would have a good shot at establishing themselves.

ghurlman 15y ago
I wasn't aware that Microsoft had taken control of Skype yet.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
  - zeddez 15y ago
    I have a hard time believing that. The Microsoft and Skype deal just received regulatory approval on June 17th from FTC. There may be still be other regulatory hurdles to still pass in other regions. The events in the article happened before that and it is unlikely that Skype would receive direction from Microsoft prior to closing. Further, this is not Microsoft's first acquisition and the pattern is more consistent with PE than Microsoft. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd be very interested.
muuh-gnu 15y ago
I have been using Google's Voice&Video chat exclusively since the day Microsoft announced the Skype purchase. Compared to skype, the experience is horrible. The audio and video quality is sensibly worse, the number of random disconnections and video freezes is pretty high. After a few minutes there is a noticeable lag in the voice connection, which gets higher with time. The general audio quality is worse then I remember having with "Speak Freely" back in the 90s, while I used a dial up modem. The Firefox plugin randomly refuses to work, and returns also random numeric error codes. Skype had, in my experience, none of these issues. Everything "just worked". Google is far, far away from that. All in all, it is so bad that it should be embarassing for Google to have it associated with its name. The only thing going for Google is that it is, after Skype, the only cross-platform voice&video offering existing on the market.
- w1ntermute 15y ago
  For this same reason, I continue to use Skype. However, the technical issues you mentioned are nothing to Google if it puts its mind to it. The difficult part is getting a userbase that justifies those efforts. This period of market instability is the perfect opportunity to do so.
  - mgkimsal 15y ago
    I dunno. Google's already had bright minds working on it for some time. Trying to do it in a browser will probably always be inherently problematic. Why they don't launch a standalone "Google Voice and Video" client... if there's an opportunity there, and they really want to own it, that'd be the route they should go, not more browser-plugin stuff. Heck, perhaps this is part of what facebook's recent spate of desktop-engineer-hiring is going after?
    - ianterrell 15y ago
      I think "probably always" is not a safe phrase to use when talking about the future of browsers. And whether or not you agree with that, I think it's clear that's where Google's money is.
    - brudgers 15y ago
      Part of what I see is that Google does not have a good model for making Google Voice profitable given their revenue model because it doesn't drive eyeballs to Google search and the advertising customer base, and because datamining the communications of Google Voice's users for the sort of keywords and profiles useful for search has a huge potential for social blowback - imagine how some people would react to web page ad placement based on last night's booty call - not to mention the possible legal problems given the diversity of wiretap laws, e.g. state by state in the U.S. never mind world wide variations. [Edit] Given changes in Google's leadership and the apparent emphasis on core function which seems to be underway along with the limited rollout which Google has done for Voice, I would not be surprised if it is destined for the same fate as Google Health over the next few years.
marcc 15y ago
How has Microsoft "already started [to] drive Skype into the ground"?
chollida1 15y ago
> Microsoft has already started driving Skype into the ground, In what way has "Microsoft has already started driving Skype into the ground"? They don't control the company yet and haven't had a say in any of these decisions? What specific event are you referring to?

ghurlman 15y ago

I wasn't aware that Microsoft had taken control of Skype yet.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- zeddez 15y ago
  I have a hard time believing that. The Microsoft and Skype deal just received regulatory approval on June 17th from FTC. There may be still be other regulatory hurdles to still pass in other regions. The events in the article happened before that and it is unlikely that Skype would receive direction from Microsoft prior to closing. Further, this is not Microsoft's first acquisition and the pattern is more consistent with PE than Microsoft. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd be very interested.

muuh-gnu 15y ago

I have been using Google's Voice&Video chat exclusively since the day Microsoft announced the Skype purchase. Compared to skype, the experience is horrible. The audio and video quality is sensibly worse, the number of random disconnections and video freezes is pretty high. After a few minutes there is a noticeable lag in the voice connection, which gets higher with time. The general audio quality is worse then I remember having with "Speak Freely" back in the 90s, while I used a dial up modem. The Firefox plugin randomly refuses to work, and returns also random numeric error codes. Skype had, in my experience, none of these issues. Everything "just worked". Google is far, far away from that. All in all, it is so bad that it should be embarassing for Google to have it associated with its name. The only thing going for Google is that it is, after Skype, the only cross-platform voice&video offering existing on the market.

w1ntermute 15y ago
For this same reason, I continue to use Skype. However, the technical issues you mentioned are nothing to Google if it puts its mind to it. The difficult part is getting a userbase that justifies those efforts. This period of market instability is the perfect opportunity to do so.
- mgkimsal 15y ago
  I dunno. Google's already had bright minds working on it for some time. Trying to do it in a browser will probably always be inherently problematic. Why they don't launch a standalone "Google Voice and Video" client... if there's an opportunity there, and they really want to own it, that'd be the route they should go, not more browser-plugin stuff. Heck, perhaps this is part of what facebook's recent spate of desktop-engineer-hiring is going after?
  - ianterrell 15y ago
    I think "probably always" is not a safe phrase to use when talking about the future of browsers. And whether or not you agree with that, I think it's clear that's where Google's money is.
  - brudgers 15y ago
    Part of what I see is that Google does not have a good model for making Google Voice profitable given their revenue model because it doesn't drive eyeballs to Google search and the advertising customer base, and because datamining the communications of Google Voice's users for the sort of keywords and profiles useful for search has a huge potential for social blowback - imagine how some people would react to web page ad placement based on last night's booty call - not to mention the possible legal problems given the diversity of wiretap laws, e.g. state by state in the U.S. never mind world wide variations. [Edit] Given changes in Google's leadership and the apparent emphasis on core function which seems to be underway along with the limited rollout which Google has done for Voice, I would not be surprised if it is destined for the same fate as Google Health over the next few years.

marcc 15y ago

How has Microsoft "already started [to] drive Skype into the ground"?

chollida1 15y ago

> Microsoft has already started driving Skype into the ground, In what way has "Microsoft has already started driving Skype into the ground"? They don't control the company yet and haven't had a say in any of these decisions? What specific event are you referring to?