You can say I’m late to the game but for my recent consulting gig I’ve had to use Skype quite a bit. I’ve had an account for several years now but I can’t say I’ve ever had an actual audio conference till recently. Instead of using my precious AT&T minutes to call into 2 hour conferences (ick!), I dial in using Skype- which is free! Actually, only calls to toll free numbers can be made using skype so as long as your virtual conference number is toll-free, you’re golden. Calls to land lines and cell phones can be made but you have to buy calling credits first.
Skype totally owns iChat when it comes to AV sessions. The whole experience is very smooth and not to mention, the quality is excellent. If you have a Skype to Skype chat using a Mac’s internal microphone your mind will be blown- I guarantee it. If you’ve ever done an iChat AV session you will notice how much better Skype is. I’m referring to both audio AND video. Also, connection problems hardly seem to happen with Skype. Initiating audio-only and video conference sessions is super smooth and jumping in and out of sessions is very responsive.
Anyways, you should check out Skype now.
i skype with my daughter in h.k. and my other daughter in Berlin I Ichat, both are very good..now what will happen with skype with the MSFT deal..do you have any idea how that will play itself out?
It’s really not that bad. It’s definitely not as slick as some other IM clients but it’s not MSN Messenger at least. There are few areas where they can definitely make the text chat better but as far as AV quality, ease of use, and stability goes … it kinda kills iChat.
If only the user experience wasn’t terrrrriiiibblleeeeee…