great deal

[tad214]

just in time for the holidays. and it's FREE

click here (http://www.skype.com/home.html)

have fun

[Budfred]

Since it is from the same people that produce the vermin farm known as Kazaa, I would be very, VERY cautious in using it. It is probably also riddled with vermin... meaning that "free" may not be so free after all....

[pentachris]

It sports a "no spyware or adware" label.

http://www.skype.com/gfx/neutral/home/nospyware.gif

But the EULA does say this (2.c):

The Skype Software and Services may be incorporated into, and may incorporate, technology, software and services owned and controlled by third parties. Use of such third party software or services is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable third party license agreements, and you agree to look solely to the applicable third party and not to Skyper to enforce any of your rights.

and

When installed on your computer, the Skype Software periodically communicates with Skyper servers.

I guess that's normal, but it does leave them open to insert spyware later.

And in the EULA under 3:

In order to receive the benefits provided by the Skype Software, you hereby grant permission for the Skype Software to utilize the processor and bandwidth of your computer for the limited purpose of facilitating the communication between other Skype Software users.

Will my conversations be routed through other users' PC's?

[pave_spectre]

Will my conversations be routed through other users' PC's?

The Technical Explanation (http://www.skype.com/skype_p2pexplained.html)

A true P2P system, in our opinion, is one where all nodes in a network join together dynamically to participate in traffic routing-, processing- and bandwidth intensive tasks that would otherwise be handled by central servers.

After reading the explanation on how it works, and having looked into various 'true' peer-to-peer software products (mostly similar types of internet phone software) this seems to be more or less normal.

[pentachris]

Non-firewalled clients and clients on publicly routable IP addresses are able to help NAT’ed nodes to communicate by routing calls. This allows two clients who otherwise would not be able to communicate to speak with each other. Because the calls are encrypted end-to-end, proxies present no security or privacy risk.

You're right, pave.

Looks neat, but I'm paranoid. It also involves getting friends and family to dl and install the software.

[jeeza]

Would this be worth looking into it ?
Speak Freely for Windows :
http://fourmilab.ch/nav/topics/windows.html

It enables you to talk across the Internet and it's encrypted.

[tad214]

For those that don't know: (from skype)
Skype is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users – not to share files this time, but to talk and chat with your friends.

The technology is extremely advanced - but super simple to use... You’ll be making free phone calls to your friends in no time!

Free unlimited worldwide phone calls to other Skype users
Superior sound quality - better than your regular phone
Works with all firewall, NAT and routers – nothing to configure
Friends list shows you when your Skype friends are online and ready to talk or chat
Super-simple and easy to use
Your calls are encrypted “end-to-end” for superior privacy
Based on cutting edge peer-to-peer technology developed by the creators of Kazaa and Joltid.
Both parties must have skype for it to work.

[PrntRhd]

jeeza,
maybe yes on the "speak freely"

Sorry tad214,
I will never trust the sneaky Kazaa-mongers to change their stripes after the Brilliant debacle. I just spent half a day chasing Kazaa related worms from a PC yesterday, and I have to worry about security holes from Remote Access Trojans all the time too, because people have their entire financial profiles on some of these machines....compromised by temp workers who install Kazaa to get free music.

[tad214]

tried it and now use it. quality is amazing, and it's very easy to use. it's p2p, so there's no centralized server, as there would be for msn. they advertise a no adware/spyware label.

[Bumpus]

Here it is folks...the future is rolling in like waves to the shore!

AT&T New Release (http://www.att.com/news/item/0,1847,12627,00.html)

Won't be long until we're getting OJ from a USB port and eggs served on the DVD tray!

[Budfred]

QWest is offering the same thing too. Even though I am not a QWest fan, I suspect that they will be safer than using a product made by the Kazaa crowd...