[Wayne07]

In a contorted way, Skype may owe some of its life to napster gettign shut down, but it isn't directly related. Skype was created by the programmers who wrote Kazaa, which became popular after napster got shut down.

The telcos should worry about VOIP, but it is currently a pin prick compared to the sword to the neck that cell phones are to their residential landline business.

[paul_fromatlanta]

>>In a contorted way, Skype may owe some of its life to napster getting shut down, but it isn't directly related. Skype was created by the programmers who wrote Kazaa, which became popular after napster got shut down.

The telcos should worry about VOIP, but it is currently a pin prick compared to the sword to the neck that cell phones are to their residential landline business.<<

In our business we wouldn't even consider a hire who wasn't using VOIP and didn't have a Skype account - otherwise they are probably technically out of touch in other ways.

[advance_copy]

Your history of Skype is correct, except that it is not such a contorted link. Had Napster not gone down, there would be no Skype because Kazaa was its roots. My point is that the true innovation for Kazaa and Skype was Napster and Vonage, and they're American.

The telcos worry less about cell service because they've built their own, the largest of which is Verizon. But VoIP really bugs them because they still haven't got their hands around it yet and it's still going to take them a long time. I'll spare you the whole dissertation on why that's the case.