Open Standards Drum Beat

As I previously posted, I am resistant to proprietary technology. Services that conform to standards help everyone, provider and consumer alike. Standards also keep companies from hiding from real competition by using patents and lawsuits, but that is a whole separate post.

I recently read the article in Network World with the rather inflammatory title of Why Skype and Vonage must Die. Overly dramatic? Yes, but well put. Today, when most people hear the word VOIP, they think of Skype and or Vonage, but they are really the two worst examples of the industry. The article rightly calls for standards-based providers, not walled gardens. It is nice to see that others are coming to the same realization. The Open Standards drum beat is getting louder.

Avery posted that Vonage is trying to be a PSTN replacement offering little more than lower costs. I echo his sentiment that there is no need for another telco today. With the SIP standard there is so much more you can do than just send and receive phone calls, but for the most part that is how the majority of the VOIP providers are operating today.

Skype could be so much more than it is if it were open. The only "openness" is that you have to use the PSTN to "call" from a Skype user to a non-Skype, but still VOIP, user. It would be like having to use the US Post Office as an intermediary to send an e-mail from your G-mail account to your friend's Hotmail account. That sounds crazy, right? But that is exactly what happens when a Skype user has to call a phone number to call another VOIP user - like a Vonage user. The 130+ year old PSTN acts as intermediary.

As dramatic as it sounds, I guess I'll have to agree, Skype and Vonage must die.