Thursday, February 8, 2007

Web 2.0 and....SKYPE

I was surprised (especially being from cohort B) that my example for a web 2.0 company hasn't yet been mentioned. I chose SKYPE as my web 2.0 company of choice because I think that it has provided yet another means of connecting people together - following the "always on" concept. It has entered a rather juicy segment in the marketplace, providing connection through a peer-to-peer network rather than a client-server one.

One of the biggest criticisms of Skype seems to be that it utilizes a proprietary rather than open standard. As a result, it makes it more difficult for other developers to mesh well with Skype. It will be interesting to see how the competition will play out in the near future.

1 comment:

Peter Kirkwood said...

The "always on" reference really is true for skype. I had a friend working in Iraq for a year so he set up webcams and Skype in his appartemtn their and at home in NH and left them running 24/7 so that he could be a "virtual dad" from the middle east. They would share meals, homework football games ect..