Skype is an outstanding real-time voice communication tool that works over the Internet in a P2P modality. This means that Skype does not connect to a centralized server to relay its communication packets to other users. Users connect directly to each other by automatically finding the best routes to each other machine.
Skype, when used on a high-speed Internet connection, and under ideal circumstances (good and recent computer hardware with abundant memory) is a truly awesome communication tool.
Voice quality is hundreds of times better than on the telephone, and conferencing calls among Skype users don't cost anything.
Making a call is as difficult as making two clicks on a list of contacts where you add or authorize-in anybody you want.
Skype runs on PCs, Pocket PCs, Macs and Linux computers making this technology the ideal voice communication tool among advanced computer users.
Recently Skype has introduced some more great features including File Transfer of documents as large as 1GB and SkypeOut, an integrated facility that allow Skype users to call any phone number in the world at extremely competitive rates.
Skype has been tested in public beta for nearly a year before releasing its first official version 1.0. Today Skype has about 8 million users from 170 countries in the world and thousands of positive reviews on newspapers, magazines and Web sites.
There is indeed a lot of public praise around Skype and most of this is truly well deserved. Skype is such a uniquely effective real-time communication tool that it has indeed deserved the greatest part of the great reviews, written compliments and public commentary it has so far attracted.
There are also some limitations in Skype which have only gotten a very small slice of press coverage.
Being an international user connected to people all around the world I have had many opportunities to thoroughly test Skype under the most varied conditions.
In order of importance these are the areas where Skype has still major margins of improvement:
a) User interface - Skype user interface leaves much to be desired. The interface icons and commands positions are not refined enough and do not allow rapid memorization of command controls, function and access position. Icons do not always reveal clearly enough the function or command that they enable. Their design style leaves doubts about the effectiveness of its color scheme, legibility and the potential for being easily memorized. Grouping, color coding and overall information would all benefit from a serious interface design optimization.
b) Ease of use - Due in great part to the issue listed under User Interface Skype is not an easy to use as it could be. Simple tasks require sometime cumbersome click-circles, and finding how to achieve certain simple functions (search for people, saving a text chat transcript, etc.) sometimes is more difficult than needed. Default settings and other minor overlooks make Skype not as friendly and lovable as many basic users would like it to be.
c) Reliability - This is probably what is least heard about Skype, as most US-based reports almost unanimously indicate excellent voice communications over most scenarios. In my personal experience Skype reliability and performance can still vary quite a bit, depending on "internet distance" between the connecting parties, system resources, memory availability, CPU class, operating system type and version, and possibly several other ones. For users having latest generation PCs with lots of RAM memory, broadband connections and being physically connected through the same major network backbone, Skype does perform flawlessly.
On the other hand (and this obviously has and will change over time) for users wanting to connect from very disparate regions of the world with moderate (56K or better) to high-speed Internet connections, the issue of what computer they are on (CPU class, speed), how much memory and resources they have available at the moment of the connection, are all very critical and can significantly influence the ability to connect via Skype while having a quality voice-conversation.
Quality of voice can deteriorate significantly up to a point where it is not understandable anymore. There may also be frequent breaks and drops even when one of the parties you are communicating with has one or more of the above listed critical variables in scarce quantity.
Even with users all having recent computers and good connectivity I have experienced problems and reliability issues forcing parties to drop the call. All of the above is referred to the use of Skype for making calls to other computer users.
In the case of SkypeOut, the optional new Skype service which allows to call virtually any land line or mobile phone in the world, it also suffers from issues ranging from bad quality connections, temporary unavailability of service to certain numbers, difficulties in accessing certain mobile phone networks, and frequently much greater delay (latency).
While calls through SkypeOut are by far the most effective way to call anyone anywhere in the world at extremely competitive rates, you should not count on its reliability 100%. Just like for the mobile phones we assume an amount of unpredictability in being able to reach a person (it maybe not reachable by the
closest relay station, person maybe underground or in area with difficult reception, person may not hear phone, etc.) so with SkypeOut it is only fair to say that full 100% certainty that a call can go through is not yet a feature of this technology.
There will be times when a number cannot be reached, there will be wild rifle shot sounds exploding in your headset before a connection is made, and you will hear countless recorded operator messages stating that your call can't go through in languages you can't even identify.
While in overall terms Skype is by far the most disruptive and most powerful real-time communication tool that has appeared in the past 18 months, it is only fair to note those few aspects of Skype that are not yet perfect.
Being honest and reporting critically the effective abilities of anyone tool provides greater credibility for the reporter and better information to the end user.
See also:
Morale of the story: If you haven't yet tried this disruptive real-time free communication tool new technology is about time you do.
Download it free... right here.
