Skype Me!

by James Gaskin

February 21, 2006 —

James Gaskin recently spoke with Michael Gough, author of "Skype Me!" Following is an edited transcript of that conversation. You may also listen to the original interview here.

James Gaskin: Michael Gough is a network computer security consultant, and he is the lead author on a book called Skype Me! Published by Syngress. He also runs the skypetips.com website which, not surprisingly, is all about Skype and tips and probably a lot of the research you did for the book, winds up here on this website.

Michael Gough: That is correct. Yeah, it was kind of take all the minutia of news and blogs and everything and say all right, what do people practically need to know? And that's what the website's chartered after.

Gaskin: I imagine you get a lot of feedback from the skypetips.com website. Do you have a number one, two or three question that comes up more often than others that you'd like to talk about?

Gough: I would say one of the top questions I get, of course, is using Skype without a computer. That's one that comes up quite a bit, like using an ATA, or I don't want to leave my computer on, or things like that. That seems to be a pretty popular subject. I think, moving towards what we see with Vonage, and Packet8, very similar to that kind of technology.

Gaskin: That's one of the things that aggravated me early on at this, is that press reports would lump broadband phones and under that they would lump Skype and Vonage, and Packet8, and not make any difference between the two. And I think there's a considerable difference between the two. I particularly think Vonage and their competitors are kind of evolutionary for phone service. And I think Skype is really revolutionary in their approach to telephonic communications. Would you agree with that? Can you add to my one level of understanding, and add some more to that?

Gough: Yeah. I think that's actually one of the best descriptions I've heard, to be honest, I really like that. I think I'm going to steal it, if you don't mind.

Gaskin: Give me credit now and then, at least.

Gough: I'll give you credit, I just did. Yeah, I think that's a great example because companies like Vonage are pretty much gearing what most people would see as a replacement to Ma Bell, as we call it here in the United States. And you're right; it's an evolution from the Ma Bell and the way we're used to doing things to a new way of doing things. Skype's driven revolutionary, as you call it, driven a change in the industry to where Telephonica down in Mexico has now offered a video telephone device, as is the French telecom, because they see users leaving their old telephone Ma Bell space for things like Skype and Vonage. And so, they're now trying to keep those customers, who have seen British telecom lower their prices, specifically to meet or beat those of Skype and estimated a loss of $4 billion to voice over IP telephony. And so, yes, revolutionary, Skype without a doubt. It's changing the products we see. It's changing the way we use this stuff. And it's changing the way we see people, as well. The ability in the API that they're allowing these people to connect, you hear a lot of these other people trying to be Skype killers, like Jajah and GoogleTalk; though GoogleTalk's another interesting concept. They sit back and wait for people, instead of going out and getting them like Skype does. But, these people are chomping at the bit to get on Skype's API, to develop product software, plug-ins, to basically take Skype to that revolutionary new use and application for it.

Gaskin: Now, is Skype's proprietary format and their bypassing of SIP, is that going to cause a long-term problem, or do you think they'll come to a meeting of minds with the SIP people before long?

Gough: You know, that's funny, I've been in this business a long time, and I can tell you that standards, as a nice idea as they are, even some of the existing SIP equipment doesn't talk to other SIP equipment. Existing IPsec does not talk to other IPsec equipment. Standards are great. But, the reality is, we really from that perspective, vendors make certain proprietary links or switches in their stuff to enhance their capabilities, and maybe to limit their competitors and their connection to it. I see the companies would love to be able to connect a user like myself on my laptop, to a SIP environment, but the reality is I don't think Skype needs to do that, and I don't think they'll go through route. What they'll do, probably, and I'm pretty sure this is the direction it's heading, you're going to buy a gateway, a Skype gateway, which one has recently been announced, that you'll plug in to your PBX or your call manager from Cisco, for example. That will connect to the -- obviously at that point take the encryption out and dump it off onto that call manager, and then you can route to a SIP product. So, I see that's how Skype will avoid this issue. You just have to mitigate the risks and understand how and what it's doing, and make those policy statements and those decisions. Use the expertise that's out there and come up with a plan, and you can use this very effectively.

Gaskin: Now, one of the things I like a lot about Skype is somehow they manage to shoehorn their client into PDAs. And, it looks like, with a little more work, anything that has an IP address and a network connection, could one day be a Skype client. Is that fair?

Gough: It is. What I, actually in the last chapter, last paragraph of the book, I basically ask Steve Jobs to create what's called a Skypod. Imagine a Nano, put into an iPod form factor with a wireless card, which people have already requested because they want to do their syncing via wireless, since I keep plugging the stupid thing in. And then embed Skype software which already runs on MacOS, which already runs on PocketPC, which already runs on Smart Phones, and various other cell phones. And suddenly you have, and take the headset and make it a microphone headset. And, suddenly, you have a WiFi, Skype phone, iPod device, which I call a Skypod, or in my case, a Skypoder would be using this. I'd buy one in a minute. It's easy to do, the technology is completely there. And Apple just has to make one.

Gaskin: Which companies get Skype, and which companies do you think have really pushed the boundaries forward with Skype technology?

Gough: I think the people that want to get a piece of the cell phone market, I think if you look at the way cell phones are purchased, they're kind of purchased I think on features. I think the Motorola RAZR phone is very popular due to durability and just the chicness of the device. So, I think people buy cell phones for that kind of feature set. I bought my pocket PC specifically so I can retire my Pocket PC and my cell phone, and have one device, and I want WiFi for the fact that I want to do Skype, and various other WiFi things. I see us buying phones for those features. So, Motorola who clearly has the ROKR phone, which does music; as Cingular does with the iTunes phone. I think people are buying phones for those things, and I think those vendors want to put those features in their phones, so people buy their phones. So, I think Motorola, LG, iMate, is probably the leaders I think right now in this space, all the big ones, Nokia, clearly a leader in the video call, 3G network space, all really leading the efforts on this and coming up with these phones that have these capabilities.

Gaskin: All right, last question, and I know this is one that people ask me a lot, so I want to get your take on it. eBay buying Skype -- is that a good idea, or bad idea? And is it going to be good for Skype or bad for Skype?

Gough: You know, I find it funny how people have an opinion about just about everything, and I've heard a lot of people just say why the heck did they do that? But, let's look at the demographics of eBay. Let's look at the demographics of Skype. They are completely opposite. eBay is huge in North America, Skype is not. And so where Skype is big, eBay is not. Where eBay is big, Skype is not. So I see them being able to leverage each other to expand the capabilities. I think it's really going to cause a lot of invention of ideas of how can we integrate this from an application perspective.

Gaskin: I appreciate your time Michael. This has been Michael Gough, lead author for a new book called Skype Me! from Syngress, and I'm James Gaskin. Thank you for listening to ITworld.com Voices.

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