Don't get me wrong, it's great if people switch from Skype to something free (as in freedom), but not if it's because it has been bought by Microsoft, this makes no sense.
Disclaimer: I'm guilty myself since I use facebook for instance.
The protocol and client are both obfuscated at cost to performance and security. Exploits have been found repeatedly for everything from remote code execution to using skype clients like a botnet.
Non-NAT'd nodes are forced to carry traffic for NATed nodes. Skype have the ability to intercept your calls, but you guessed that anyway.
Also, if everyone in the world used one phone company, or bank, and that company refused to allow other new companies to inter-operate, they would face antitrust. Skype, and arguably facebook, control their markets. They should be forced to allow inter-op.
> Skype, and arguably facebook, control their markets.
Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2011/may11/05-10Cor...
They rebutted it. I don't really see how they could refute it.
If one was really naive I guess one might imagine that "invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms" might cover linux rather than a limited set of possible platforms. I have no worries about the java based client on my phone for example.
Arguable if they will or not, but I don't think they could have been more direct than this
See: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/press_releases/press_release.c...
and 2 years later: http://www.cio.com/article/532513/Microsoft_to_Drop_Linux_Un...
You can safely call the Skype extension evil malware, if your giant call-to-action phonenumber is forced to be written like this: 012-34[span style="display:none"]_[/span]5678 or it becomes hijacked by a video chat program.
This thread starts at 2007 and goes downhill from there: http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=78380 (Look at the meta tag solution, that works for a while, but doesn't work in XHTML strict. Microsoft and Skype definitely deserve each other)
> doing stuff you don't know with your bandwidth.