With Skype's recent worldwide crash, people are panicking and rumor-mongering like there's no tomorrow. But there will be a tomorrow. Skype isn't dead - so what if eBay's stock took a dip? The stock markets are well-known for being fickle, and this is just another blip.
The fact that Skype has generated such buzz in the news simply points to the most important fact of all - Skype is EXTREMELY popular, and has become an ESSENTIAL tool for many individuals and companies.
In my company, getitnext.com, we LIVE and BREATHE Skype. We're located throughout North America, and we probably couldn't exist without it. We hold all our meetings using Skype conference calls, chat throughout the day and night on Skype... Skype is as important to us as email. Sometimes more.
People are pointing fingers at the underlying technology, playing the game of "I told you so". Saying that P2P is inherently unreliable, and will never replace the traditional phone. They say the same thing about VOIP in general. They said that about cell phones too, remember? Sure, they're all unreliable to a certain extent. So is my car.
The thing is, I haven't owned a "traditional" phone in 4 years, and so far I'm getting along just fine. I own a cell phone, a VOIP phone from Vonage, and I use Skype. I also use email, IM, Facebook, Flickr and a zillion other tools to communicate with the people in my life. What some people fail to understand is that technology has given us CHOICE, and it doesn't have to be an all or nothing proposition.
So enough with the ballyhoo! Get over it already! I'm going to keep using Skype until someone thinks up something even cooler. Speaking of which...
Renowned Tech writer Om Malik recently posted that Skype is now available on the iPhone. Now that's a fantastic combination!
I haven't got my hands on an iPhone yet, but my colleagues have, so you can read about all the cool things you can do with it, and I'm still waiting for a flexible phone that i can stick in my back pocket and not worry about crushing it when i sit down ;-)
In the meantime, I will continue to love Skype, and I send them my best wishes that they get better soon. As I write this, my awesome Skype Bluetooth Headset sits patiently waiting for me to fire it up again.
I love technology. I still believe.
- Colin
