It’s amazing how Skype, or should I say eBay instead, has created a monopoly in the last few years using a small messaging application: a closed source project using a closed protocol network. Having such a client has some minor implications, such as the inability to connect to other VoIP networks or, due to a lack of resources of their developer team, a crappy Linux client.
Recently Skype has launched a new service called Skype Prime, that’s allows anyone to charge services like online support performed over the Skype network. This innovative service has a rather interesting conditions:
- $0.50/min minimum all charge
- Skype takes 30% of whatever you charge
- You have to wait at least 120 days to get paid.
This has some limitations, Phill Wolff at Skype Journal points them all in detail, but what Skype is saying is something like this: we get a huge cut of your price, pay you someday for doing absolutely nothing (instant messaging is achieved using peer to peer communication, the load on Skype servers is minimal) other than letting you use our neat software and network.
One of these days I’ll move to Gizmo Project, a truly free (as in free speech) VoIP application…
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