Skype. Sever Based Computing? Or Not?

It is 04:54 on a Monday and my Skype line is ringing. It is Raul. “ My Skype phone (Belkin WiFi) works.”. He knows I keep vampire hours and noticed I was listed as Online. “I am at the airport and just turned on the phone, and it connected to the Internet. And Internet access at the airport is free! Our plane does not leave for 2 hours and thought we could test the connection.” His wife likes to get to the airport early. It works. Good night. Have a safe flight.

This event was actually the culmination point of several events. Three weeks before i received an email from a friend informing me that he was heading to Dhaka that afternoon and would not be back for a month or more. The previous night he had bought a thumb drive with Skype already installed and suggested that we try using it to communicate between here and Bangladesh. Why not.

Downloaded Skype to a Ubuntu 6.10 based PC. Because I keep vampire hours, already was using a headset for audio and it had a microphone attached. Just had to plug in the microphone. Without reading a manual, worked through the installation, registration, and setup. Skype has a built in test call number that confirms if you have your settings correct. It did. But who do i call? It will be days before my friend arrives and is setup in Dhaka. Just have to wait.

Or not. The next day i share with Raul the story about Dhaka, thumb drive, and Skype. He informs me that he looked for me in the Skype search users database a few days earlier and could not find me. Thought for sure i would have long ago signed up. Not so. Had read about Skype but was just not that motivated to download and try it. The thought that it was FREE and could be used as a thumb drive application anywhere in the world was enough of a push to get me interested.

We exchanged Skype information and connected computer to computer later that day. He had already attached a web camera and we were able to have half of a video conference. My interest grows. Three days later my friend's Skype name appears as Online. Click on the big green button to call him and the application tells me it is ringing him. He answers. Nothing. “Are you there? Can you here me now?” Nothing. Then an IM box appears and he types in that he is having trouble with the equipment in the hotel business center. Maybe i can ring him on the local cell phone he was given on arrival in country. I note the number. Dial it. It works. Not FREE as computer to computer, but none the less inexpensive if you charge by distance. More interest.

Skype is a peer to peer based system. Server Based Computing people might raise their noses and cry foul, but when someone can make the complex work simple, be warned. In the past six weeks i have watched the Skype on line user count almost double to over 9,000,000 users on line at the same time. If you assume that only about 1 out of 10 is Online at any one time (or less), that means they have a very large database of early adapters.

Skype is not a pure P2P network and maintains a central repository of account information and user history. Centralized servers are used to authenticate users to the P2P network. Then “super nodes” are used to connect user to user. With the exception of some APIs, the system is closed. But that is of less interest to me than the applications that are available including remote access (and control) of another computer, shared applications, and video conferencing.

My Belkin WiFi has a display, MAC address, its own OS, and the ability to connect to an authentication server that is able to redirect me to another computer that has a role other than P2P. Could it become a SBC type system. Maybe or most likely one with a dual role. Skype has millions (100 million or more?) of registered users and a foot in their door. Skype already has a market place for value added vendors to display their products. Maybe 100,000,000 users? Nice.

Since that first test on Ubuntu, have since tested Skype with Windows XP sp2, Windows Vista Ultimate 64 and yes, my very on own Belkin WiFi. My cell phone has been reassigned to emergency services only. Click here to watch a video or two from the Skype site.

Until the next post,

Steve

+44 20 8816 8614 London

+852 8121 4210 Hong Kong

+1 979 399 4881 Dime Box

FYI: Even though a Skype banner appears at the top of this blog and a picture of Belkin phone is included, have not been contacted by either party. Did find a bug in the Linux version and forwarded the bug to Skype. For me it is not a problem, for others it could be significant.