v1.0 beta

skype is so amazing. for the cost of a mic and headphones ($4.99) you can call any phone in north america for free using your computer and internet connection. i talked to j yesterday using this, but it came out to like $2/min, since she was busy. doh. i need to talk for 500 minutes, then i could get the cost down to $0.01 per minute.

so by offering voip services for free, did skype just strike a major blow at its competitors - vonage, primus, cable companies, traditional phone companies? or did skype just ruin a profitable industry? consider this. fed ex decided to offer overnight service, singlehandedly screwing its competitors. thats until their competitors also decided to offer overnight services. the result - overnight service became a standard feature that all companies had to offer. these companies had to purchase more aircraft, operations centers, etc, and their profit didn't really increase. its a prisoners dilemma.