Well, Skype CEO and newly minted billionaire, Niklas Zennstrom just learnt the horrible truth about Skype - something we Skype users have known all along. It ain’t perfect. Apparently, he was muffled by a bad connection, when trying to Skype in his keynote speech over a satellite connection - just like he did at Always On. I wonder how they took this back at eBay headquarters.
“The sound you hear is the sound of eBay stock going down,” quipped Blair Levin, a managing director and regulatory strategy analyst at Legg Mason, during the wait.
Meow!
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7:07 AM PT
[...] OM MALIK REPORTS on a Bill Gates moment for newly minted billionaire Niklas Zennstrom of skype fame. [...]
6 comments so far
5:25 AM PT
You know what. I’ve always wondered if I was the only one on the planet that has been having sound problems with Skype. I guess not. I’ve ditched Skype and am using another VoIP program since the problems. I’ve never looked back.
5:42 AM PT
Om, this is obviously a problem with the connection or on the receiving end, not with Skype itself. It is clear that VoIP is as good as the weakest section of the connection.
At least last time I saw Zennstrom on video feed to AO 2005, there were no obvious problems. I did this kind of thing a couple of times too, everything went ok.
5:59 AM PT
Reminds me of a distant memory. Someone demonstrating some operating system in the mid 90s. Someone called William something. Classic!
9:16 AM PT
and an auction site wanted to buy into the VOIP business for what again? This will send Meg the same route as Carly, don’t let the door hit you in the butt, Meg…
9:32 AM PT
Right this morning, I too experienced a weak signal in skyping over the ocean but I didn’t catch it as symptom. In case of Niklas - was it the speaker’s ‘bad luck’ or just common possibility for bad connection (actually, the best revealed demonstration of) even for transmission of DIGITAL speech? Could muffling originate from noise reduction failure? We need guess it.
More I wonder how much skyping, let’s say gipsying, is reliable at all. And is it the only way to do? No hyping.
We are assured more: real sound quality needs trusted technology unhyped.
4:18 PM PT
Cheap bastard! Just sold your company for $ billions and you’re still trying to save pennies by using Skype for your calls . . .
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