[*] Skype challenger

[Bill Reid]

Sean Walberg wrote:

> The thing about Skype is "it works".  I know people here have skype 
> running, despite the firewall rules we have to block most P2P stuff.  I 
> fired up busta, and was immediately blocked by our proxy server and the 
> application failed.
> 

There is no question that Skype is easier to set up then a SIP phone. As Sean 
says it just works.

SIP P2P may have solutions but I have not seen much software for deploying that 
solution.

Jingle/XMPP may be a possibility.

It is unfortunate that NAT and firewalls have broken IP. But that is the reality 
and we have to live with it. Since Skype breaks the rules it is almost by 
definition that its protocol or procedures are secret and open to change as 
firewalls try to stop them. This is certainly not the way to develop a 
communication standard. :-(  It is kind of sad that success goes to the software 
that breaks the rules.

-- Bill