I was on the Leo LaPorte podcast last week and my Skype connection was effectively killed every two minutes making it quite a nuisance. The whole show is recorded over a Skype conference call.
I never bothered to explain it but I knew this was going to happen since I switched over to my backup ISP — Sprint Broadband direct — an essentially out of service system that has allowed original subscribers to maintain an account. The system uses a line of sight fixed wireless methodology that is getting decrepit, to say the least. I noticed this two minute phenomenon a week earlier and suspect that there is actually a sniffer or something looking for a certain protocol and then cutting off the stream. I only suggest this because it seemed “timed.” I’ll have to rehook up to PacBell to get a better connection. I’m actually hoping to just go to Covad or some heavy duty provider in the next few months.
I should mention that none of this QOS issues began until AFTER my Marketwatch column ran. Thus I am suspicious of that timing too.
Anyway, because of the fact that I wrote a column about how great Skype is for my CBS Marketwatch column this episode apparently has evolved into some disparaging posts mainly on Slashdot (posted by my nemesis Commander Taco). Slashdot has itself evolved into a site not unlike Little Green Footballs — filled with all the characters outlined in the Flame Warriors site.
I haven’t bothered to witness the blather because I’ve seen it over and over and there is seldom much new to add to this level of lame kvetching. It’s all an eye-roller. In this case it’s particularly pathetic since not one person ever bothered to ask me what happened and it’s not as if it’s impossible to get hold of me.
As usual with online mavens people just make it up as they go along with their personal half baked theories and snippets of ego-driven opinions tossed in to get attention. Again I refer you to the Flame Warriers site.
That said I will compliment ZDNet writer/blogger Russell Shaw, who is a VOIP maven for kind of coming to my defense over all this. His post is here.
What I learned from the Shaw commentary was that Skype, which is far more popular in Europe than in the USA, is despised by the Slashdot community as well as by various promoters of Vonage and other commercial systems.
The reason for this community to hate Skype are fairly obvious. It’s proprietary and free and that can’t be right. If it was Open Source and free that would make sense to these people. Or if it was proprietary and expensive that would make even more sense. I suppose that after AOL buys Skype they will be able to say that they sensed something was amiss.
Oh, and yes, you can be sure that either Google or AOL or Microsoft will buy these guys. And that’s why they are keeping the code to themselves.
You really have to consider the source of where the comments come from. Slashdot is supposed to be news for nerds but the “so-called” news is either old or rehashed drivel that they have poseted before. There are much better forum type sites out there that I gladly spend my time reading. Glad you took the time to explain what happened Mr. Dvorak. Enjoy the site and your columns!!
You know I’ve been reading /. for a long time and I can honestly say that I’ve noticed a substancial decrease in the quality of the articles and information posted. They are sounding more and more like a fanboys website.
John, you are quite right about those /. haters man. They just can’t seem to come to grips with the fact that Open Source isn’t always the ONLY way to go with FREE software or services.
Skype has a rather vigourous develop program and the /. haters can always sign up by the millions and push Skype towards Open Source. Instead they’re quire content to hack and slash in their parents basement or college dorm bitching and whining about the big bad corps and all those nasty proprietary software programs out there.
I think they are way off the mark with Skype. the biggest reason is how in the hell can they possible bitch about a FREE service that has a QOS that matches and most time exceeds BIG proprietary carriers.
Grow kids… its fine to promote the Open Source model its entirely different to simply hate everything that isn’t Open and show your displeasure the tried and true “mature” /. way and tank their web site.
I’ve been a slashdot member (Anita Coney) for a few years. One complaint about you John is that you write articles based on wild speculation that generally turn out to be wrong. Strangely, the powers at be behind slashdot don’t see the irony in all the postings concerning cold fusion or Linux on the desktop.
The other criticism is that you intentionally write articles to incite people, thereby increasing your readership. Once again, the slashdot editors see no irony in their “sky is falling” postings concerning patents or some lawsuit trying to kill open source.
Not that you give a rat’s ass anyway, but we all have our agendas, and slashdot is no different. As long as we remember that, it doesn’t really matter.
A lot of slashdot people hate skype because it was started by the same people that did kazaa. And kazaa is linked with spyware.
I have heard that the people responsible for skype left kazaa before the spyware was put in. But you know slashdot….
Does anyone with even an ounce of sense take Slashdot seriously anymore?
Well said. I stopped reading Slashdot years ago because of that garbage. Sad to see it is still that way.
I can’t speak for the rest of the Slashdot community, but the reason why Open Source “fans” dislike Skype is not because it isn’t Open Source. To quote Damien Sandras (creator of GnomeMeeting):
“The main problem is not that the program is not Open Source, the problem is that Skype is locking users into a proprietary protocol. Would you imagine the Internet with a proprietary equivalent to the HTTP protocol that only a given client could browse? That’s what happens with Skype. Skype also has a great marketing force, some people even think that Skype has a superior audio quality. How could Skype have a superior quality when it is using the same codec (iLBC) than software like GnomeMeeting while introducing more latency by making calls go through a 3rd party? The only real advantage of Skype is that it is easily going through any type of NAT, using a 3rd user to proxy the call. But the day when the Linux kernel NAT will natively support H.323 or SIP, Skype will have lost its only advantage… Skype is hype…”
They seem to like to derail the topics too.
I mean come on. Skype compared to guns?
They would be better off trying to compare my 15 inch CRT to a IMAX.
I wander into SlashDot, by accident, about once a year — and leave. Nothing new.
I wouldn’t lay-off depiction of the sectarian types to SlashDot, particularly. This sort of ego-lame cult pops up in every aspect of society. Certainly, it’s been an online experience as long as I’ve been around the cyberscene — 22 years.
I bumped into the same sort of crowd, yesterday, following a couple of links about TiVo over to Engadget. After noting an article which ascertained that the iPod Shuttle already has more than half the market share for flash-based music players [after just a couple of months], I wandered into the comments section and stepped into a dogpile of folks who wandered as far afield as you could imagine with their concerns, alarums of war, and the sky-is-falling predictions over this happening.
I guess, now, that biologists have determined there is a gene which encourages people to believe in religions [further pointing out how little we’ve evolved since the Stone Age], the next “advance” will probably find a gene that makes some people into Yankee fans or Bush-supporters.
John, if you’re reading these comments, check out http://www.digg.com. If you hate Slashdot as much as I do, Digg is the new promised land to article submissions. No gatekeepers, users decide what makes headlines, and its a genuine geek community that grows each day.
I read the posts since I moderate this forum..I’ll check it out. Thanks.
“…people just make it up as they go along with their personal half baked theories and snippets of ego-driven opinions tossed in to get attention.” —jcd
I thought that’s what makes life fun.
“The other criticism is that you intentionally write articles to incite people, thereby increasing your readership.” —Imafish
I am *shocked*, *shocked* I tell you, that you would accuse John of this.
I dislike Skype, because it always complains about a sound card being busy.
>>Only when i disbale amarok(music-player) I can call sb.
That realy f*cking!
I hate them. Under Linux those asses neither support sound properly nor video chat in any way..
I hate them.
I´ll try WINE… (winehq.org)