Geek Software EXTRA- Skype
How often do you think about your telephone? Me too, not much. Telephones have become fairly ubiquitous. In fact, in technical (geek) circles the phone system is referred to as POTS (“Plain Old Telephone System”.) I kid you not! The new “buzz” in telephony is VoIP, or “Voice
over Internet Protocol”… Vonage is one company that is doing this in a big way… they are connecting people to the POTS system with an Internet (broadband) connection. But, WHAT IF you didn’t connect to POTS at all? What if you just created an ALL IP based phone system? And what if it was FREE? Imagine calling someone and talking to them over your computer and Internet connection, for as long as you wanted, anywhere in the world… for FREE! That is what Skype is. My Geek Software EXTRA this week is Skype. You simply download the software (they have a client for Windows, Mac and Linux), install it, and then talk over your computer (it is best to get a headset with headphones and “boom” microphone for about $40.00) to any other Skype user for free! Plus, you can conference call to multiple Skype users for free as well!
Let’s say that you travel overseas and want to talk to someone back in the States… now you can, as long as you want, for free! So how does Skype make any money? Well, if you DO want to connect to, and call, a POTS user (normal phone line telephone number,) then THAT will cost you. But as long as you are talking Skype to Skype… then it is free! So, don’t call your friend, Skype them!
https://www.skype.com
My Skype ID is: drbillbailey