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Comment by toddmorey | Hacker News Reader

Why is it that I like Skype less on the other side of this announcement? It's not that I'm anti-MSFT; I just like communications software like Skype to be vendor neutral, competing on innovation and working to keep as many platforms + devices as possible at parity. I don't want someone to use Skype as leverage to try to get me to switch platforms. I'm more likely to drop Skype and be left looking for an alternative.

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There may be alternatives that cover Skype functionality at least partly if you have the skills and nerves to use them (based on SIP or jingle). But for most of the 170 million connected users, including those who use Linux, there is no alternative to Skype if they want the same featureset (im, voip, video, encryption, conference calls,...). Sad but true.

GChat is pretty idiot-proof, and platform-independent.

Does it still not have cross platform video support?

How many people REALLY use video chat though? I mean more than once a year. Even among techies and businesspeople, video chat rarely seems to have an advantage over regular voice chat.

People with children use it. A lot.

Ever been in a long distance relationship, missing your kids when you're away from home, or just want to see someone's face? Video chat isn't as convenient as voice chat, but when you want to take some time out to really talk to someone, it's the closest thing to face to face.

Also, I think video chat works better and will pretty much always work better on computer than on smartphones. There's a much better screen, you don't have to hold it just right, and it's easier to sit down and make time for a video chat on a computer. If you're looking at the numerous failed attempts at video chat on phones, I can see how you'd see it as useless, but Skype is different.

FWIW, FaceTime on an iPad is very, very good.

I use it for meetings a few times a week since I telecommute and it is way better than voice.

Our team uses video chat a lot. With a highly distributed team actually being able to see the people you talk to I find to be worth a lot.

I live a long, long way from my family. It's impossible to describe how much of a difference Skype with video makes. Similarly, I live in Europe and work for an American company. I can assure you that voice is not the same as voice and video for maintaining relationships with people. For both of those use cases, video makes it orders of magnitude easier to get the feeling of being near someone.

the browser plugin is platform independent, or is there a cross platform client that supports audio/video reliably?

I feel the same way. I've already looked for an alternative Voip solution and found Nimbuzz to be a good candidate. I'm probably not going to buy any new Skype credit.

Agreed. This is, overall, bad news for users of Skype because it will now be part of the only company fighting to keep people locked into a desktop platform. Then again, the only reason I use Skype is because the Windows users on the other end of the line have no better option.

Truphone?

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