Over on Skype Journal, Phil Wolff has posted his “26 Wishlist Items for Enterprise Skype“, which makes for interesting reading.  Basically his list of what Skype needs to work in the enterprise.  It’s a good list with many good ideas for VoIP in general, not just Skype.  The list isn’t prioritized but my 2 cents would be that the #1 thing Skype needs is the network edge proxy server that Phil mentions… some kind of choke point that IT Security managers can use to monitor/block/allow/deny Skype access.  The reality is that I think most IT security folks just plain don’t trust Skype. 

What do you think of the list?

P.S. Phil also has previously come up with the very cool image/logo to the right that I think all of us VoIP bloggers who write about Skype Enterprise really must use.  And if you don’t understand the significance of the logo or the play on words, well, your geek credentials are seriously in doubt. (Hint)

Technorati tags: skype, skypeforenterprise, skypejournal, voip

Those of you with an interest in Skype may wish to read my post over on Disruptive Conversations about VoIP blogger Jan Geirnaert ceasing the use of his skype-watch.com and skype-gadgets.com domains for his blog.  I’ve included there links from a number of the other VoIP bloggers who have covered this issue in more detail.

Technorati tags: skype, pr

Quite a bit of activity lately, it seems, over in Skype-land:

1. Private beta of an “Enterprise Edition” – First seen on Jan Geirnaert’s weblog and then subsequently confirmed, it appears Skype is sending around an email looking for participants in an “Early Adopter Program” for a product that would include:

• Enterprise network compatibility.
• Company-owned Skype Name creation.
• Customisable to your corporate requirements.
• Direct technical support from Skype.
• Ongoing upgrades maintenance.

A bit more text about it on Jan’s weblog.  Will be interesting to see what evolves out of this.

2. New version 2.6 for the Mac with Call Transfer, public chats, Skype Prime, etc. – Over at Skype Journal, Jim Courtney writes about the new Mac version that brings the Mac version closer to parity with the Windows client (as seen in the release notes). It also apparently includes “call transfer” that will, per the download page, “Transfer calls to your Skype contacts – effortlessly.” Jim provides a teaser to us that Windows users can use this Call Transfer as well… and this will be described later this week. 

If Call Transfer does indeed work, this is the first time I’ve really seen it in a P2P client.  (I’m…

Phil Wolff over at Skype Journal was obviously having way too much fun with graphic-editing programs, but the results are hilarious (at least to me). A very mooving piece titled “First Look: Skype for Cows 3.2“.

Given today’s date, it’s definitely well worth a read….     😉

 

Technorati tags: skype, skype journal, phil wolff, humor

In my previous post about the Skype 3.2 beta out today, I said this:

I’m sure there will be some other things found in the release, too,

but I had no idea how right that statement was… Jim Courtney over at Skype Journal just posted this “Skype 3.2 Sets New Standard for Sound Quality” and he’s not kidding. I just called Jim using Skype 3.2 and spoke to him first using just my laptop mic and speakers and then with my normal mic/headphone setup. In both cases he said the audio quality was excellent (obviously even better with the mic/headphone setup I have). He spoke to me with the setup he describes in his article… sitting back away from his computer a bit and with his microphone situated between speakers. I do have to say that the sound quality was impressive given that Jim is trying to create echoes (I heard none).  Definitely an interesting move on Skype’s part… obviously only of use between 3.2 beta users, but it will be interesting as this rolls out into their production software.

In the meantime, if you are a 3.2 beta user and want to give me a call to test it…

The fruits of the eBay purchase of Skype continue to start appearing… today Skype released a 3.2 beta for Windows (sorry Mac & Linux fans) which has as it’s main feature the ability to send money to another user via PayPal (provided both users have PayPal accounts).

Rather than write more here about the feature, I’ll just point you over to Skype Journal where Phil Wolff has already provided a walk-through of the Send Money feature (as well as the nice graphic I used in this post). 

It’s an interesting addition… as we briefly chatted about in Skype Journal’s public chat today, this has a bit of a potential to take some money away from Skype Prime, although probably not much.  If you were in a call and wanted to charge someone for the call, you could ask them to send you money via PayPal.  In contrast to Skype Prime, you could ask them to send you any amount you wanted… and you would get the money immediately (versus the 4-month hold of Skype Prime).  I don’t think it will impact Skype Prime too much, though, because the process to send money via PayPal is more involved… Skype Prime…

Phil Wolff over at Skype Journal’s been posting some good pieces about Skype Prime:

• Walking through Skype Prime Beta – takes you step-by-step through the process of setting yourself up with Skype Prime, including screenshots (for all the Mac and Linux users out there!)
• The Skype Prime Rates – digs into the reality of the rates Skype is charging… along with the 120-day waiting period to be paid… nice graphics, Phil!
• Skype Prime blog roundup 1 – recounts the blog coverage that’s been going on about Skype Prime

Thanks, Phil, for taking the time to pull all this coverage together… excellent thing for “Skype Journal” to do, so thanks!

Technorati tags: skype, skype prime, skypeprime