Skype the next big thing or just another IM?

Ok have been hearing alot about Skype from certain techie magasines lately and wanted to know some other peoples comments on it

where I think it differs is that it is marketing itself as a cheap way of talking with friends anywhere - now other IM's are capable of this and have had the feature in place for sometime lets compare Skype and the current leader (IMHO) MSN

Skype Features (from http;//www.skype.com )

Quote:

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Free unlimited worldwide phone calls to other Skype users

Superior sound quality – better than your regular phone

Works with all firewall, NAT and routers – nothing to configure!

Friends list shows you when your Skype friends are online and ready to talk or chat

Super-simple and easy to use
Your calls are encrypted “end-to-end” for superior privacy

Based on cutting edge peer-to-peer technology developed by the creators of Kazaa and Joltid

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MSN Features (from http://messenger.msn.com/Feature/default.aspx)

Quote:

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Communicate
Instant message in real time, get face-to-face with webcam, send messages to your friends' cell phones, or get the latest news with MSN Alerts. It's easy to explore all the ways to stay in touch!

Customize
Create your own display pictures, backgrounds, and emoticons, or download images from around the world. Use MSN Messenger to express yourself to the world!

Play
Play games with a friend, share photos and files, send animated greetings on special occasions - all from one button while you instant message. Have fun together!

Manage
Protect your kids with parental controls, block spam, catch new email when it comes in, or set your online status. Use MSN Messenger to keep your life organized.

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ok so MSN looks more feature rich - but when do you actually use most of them? I know I dont - lol
Except the fact that MSN is pretty customisable....but would you prefer something that is customisable or something that is ad free?

Well I wanted to check out some of Skypes Claims so have just done a download of it

It claims to be adware/spyware free....now call me a cynic but coming from the makers of Kazza I dont believe them - so am going to do a clean sweep of PC with S&D and Ad-aware install Skype and try scan again see if anything new turns up ;)

Also their claim that it can work through any firewall without any configuration. Now I dont know if they count hittin the allow button when it pops up form your firewall as configuration but it claims that MSN (and other IM's) cannot do this - my money is on Skype needing me to allow it as well - if not some kiddies would love to know how they are getting through every firewall ;)

well off to do the scans and install will be back with results.

v_Ln

ok just did a full scan - installed Skype and scanned again

no new adware/spyware found so looks like that claim is true
But as suspected - of course you have to allow it through your firewall - so to me that means that configuration is needed unlike they claimed.

The prog itself - looks like Yahoo IM back in the day ;)
None of the features of many of the newer IM's and I doubt its user base will be anywhere the numbers the like sof ICQ and MSN have

They do however say that the voice communication is better than on the phone - so perhaps that is one area they beat the other IM's though i aint had a chance to try it yet.

So why move? I dont see any reason to - dont think its one IM I'll be bothering with

v_Ln

Ah Skype! Here my personal taste of this program. For a PC to PC phone conversation, it's doing a very good job. My friend said the sound quality is very good comparing to other pc to pc conversation software he try (Ventrillo). It's does take CPU power to run it and good microphone. Personally, I like the software! Hey, even my father uses it and he knows almost nothing in computer!

Who ever see Skype like an IM are just dead wrong. It’s not an IM like MSN or ICQ. It’s a PC to PC phone conversation software. That it and it’s do the job nicely for a free software. Where those guys get the money, I wonder but they are probably over rich from Kazaa!

I only use im to speak to peeps i no already. At the end of the day those peeps that are desperate to chat to other peeps will use it because, the are prolly using Aim,Msn,Yahoo and icq already. More chat would seem to be a more fulfilled life (not)

But then i'm what you might call introvert any way.

I think it's a great program. I used to work with an online radio station (over at suprnova.org), and we used skype to do our call-ins on the radio "shows." It was very popular because, like, there could be folks in the suprnova.radio forum on IRC who wanted to say something to everyone, or who just wanted to feel a part of the show by being heard on the air, so they'd simply call in and have a nice little discussion, or just give some shouts, and it was all over and back to chatting. Again, it was largely popular among them, and skype was pretty darn failproof when we used it.