Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold: Blog Coverage

Since its launch Tuesday, Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold has received some interesting coverage:

• David Pogue, New York Times: in addition to his column discussed here yesterday, he has produced an amusing video: Skype 4.0: The Cheapskate where a video starring Mr. Cheapskate shows a Skype video session with his daughter, Kim Cheapskate, obviously a student. But it also serves as a humorous introduction to Skype for Windows 4.0's features.
  
• Alec Saunders: Saunderslog.com: Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK:

Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, is audio quality. We all thought that Skype audio was great, right? Skype’s internally developed SILK codec slipped into the final release, despite not having been in prior betas. A wideband codec that delivers the goods at half the bitrate of prior codecs, SILK makes talking on Skype a pure pleasure.

• Tom Keating: Skype Launches 4.0 with Super Duper Weenie Wideband Codec. Images conjured up when a new codec is lauded with reduced network bandwidth. Obviously Tom has his favorite food hangouts.
  
• Update: JK On The Run: Geek Session: Skype 4.0 and the HP Mini 1000 MIE provides a ten minute video recording of Kevin's Skype video call with James Kendrick from a netbook running Windows 7 beta. Not a Skype High Quality video call but still demonstrates a reasonable quality video call, even at full screen (select "HD On" in upper right corner if you go full screen) . Would love to have knows the fps and resolution from the Skype tech specs for the call.
  

Have a good weekend.

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David Pogue, New York Times: Video Chats Overcome Clunkiness

Columnist David Pogue in a New York Times article reviewing Skype 4.0 starts by going back to the AT&T video phone demonstrated at the 1964 New York World's Fair and user experience from then. Not a lot of calls due to technical and psychological issues. He talks about why Skype has been so widely accepted (did he remind us it was "free"?) and why Skype has been a survivor when up against iChat, MSN Messenger, SightSpeed and others.

He goes on to mention several issues that have inhibited video calling in the past but then says:

The video quality still varies when you use Skype. Fast Internet connections and fast computers still work better than slow ones. But if you do have a good setup — wow. With certain Logitech or Philips webcam models, Skype 4.0 can deliver a picture that’s as big and sharp and smooth as a TV picture (30 frames a second, 640 by 480 pixels), with almost no delay.

In my test calls to friends in California, New York and Virginia, we were amazed at what a difference it makes when the delay goes away. (Maybe, for its next trick, Skype can lend its technology to the world’s cellphone carriers.)

He then went on to make calls using iChat, ooVoo and SightSpeed: "None of them matched Skype’s immediacy or video and audio quality." He discusses Skype's new level of audio quality (with the SILK codec) and reduced network bandwidth speed requirement. He mentions some features that he would still like to see and mentions what differentiates services such as SightSpeed. His closing comment places Skype video calling into a historical perspective:

..... Will we one day adjust to the idea of being on camera every time someone calls?

Nah.

In the end, video chatting isn’t a replacement for phone calls, but a supplement to them, a perfect way to check out someone’s new place, check in with distant family and friends or show off a new talent (or baby). They saw the possibilities back in 1964 — they just didn’t realize that we wouldn’t always want to use them.

Go read David's post (free registration may be required); it's an excellent yet objective review of the personal video calling space from the end user perspective. I guess David doesn't watch Oprah; she seems to be using Skype High Quality Video almost daily according to reports from my wife.

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