noirExtreme

I've always been an admirer of Skype. I track the progress of the company since the launch of their first beta in 2003, praise their product in every occasion and yet I haven't adopted Skype.

Skype is about reinventing telecommunications, not just porting a 100-year old application to a new medium. Skype is a smart peer-to-peer application built on top of a dumb network, delivering superior voice quality without the need for QoS, Session Border Controllers or any sophisticated system that traditional operators believe they need to deliver VoIP. And on top, Skype is nearly free.

So what's been holding me from jumping in? Skype is a proprietary solution. Users are escaping from the prison of the POTS only to jump into the walled garden of Skype. While this sounds like a religious statement today given the number of innovations Skype provides over the POTS, over time problems will undoubtedly appear. Although almost completely invisible today, Skype —like any other proprietary solution— will have the following significant drawbacks:

• Slower innovation —a lack of competition does not encourage vendors to continuously improve their products to reduce cost and add new functionalities.
• Unfair pricing for services —the absence of alternative for each element of the solution makes it possible for a vertical vendor to charge an unreasonable price for services.

Sure there's a Skype API that third parties can use to write applications that run on Skype but all of that doesn't come for free. The API and the related partnership agreements are potentially a nice source of revenue for Skype. In the end this is nothing else than a strategy of closed platform with near monopoly position that commands a premium for its barriers to entry and exit. Sounds a lot like Microsoft suddenly, doesn't it?.

Understandably Skype is very compelling for end users. With 80,000 new downloads every day, Skype represents a fantastic disruption factor in an industry that needs it badly. But if they go too far unchallenged they will quickly become a next generation incumbent.

Now I am not going to engage on a crusade to scare end users away from Skype (though I have in mind a Skype:Out! campaign idea). Instead I think that it is time for SIP supporters to team up and provide a compelling alternative to Skype based on open standards. All the building blocks are there to make it work.
Telephony needs an open market in which many providers can develop best-of-breed applications and services that they offer at a reasonable price defined by the forces of open competition. I want to be able to pick the best softphone (I want Trillian with an integrated SIP phone, please please), I want integration with instant messaging, I want a single presence, not one per application, I want to be reachable under a single identifier for all modes of communication, I want integration with my mobile phone, etc. Only a standard platform can provide the framework for the fast innovation required to make my dream happen through healthy competition. SIP has to become a lot easier to use too.

Insurrection
All pieces of the interoperability puzzle are in place to make Real-Time Communications over the Internet a palpable reality. Broadband, SIP and STUN are taking us there. We need better consumer software. We need smarter, more usable devices. We need more choices. We need ferocious consumer demand for flexibility in the ways we communicate.
Source: broadbandblog.net

So let's build this better communication world on SIP and if it works I am sure that Skype will feel compelled to open up and interoperate for the best of all users. Can't wait for a SkypeOpen service?