Available on Mac Windows Linux

The 2nd most popular messenger on Windows

Skype is a peer-to-peer Internet telephony network founded by the entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, also founders of the file sharing application Kazaa. It competes against existing open VoIP protocols such as SIP, IAX, and H.323. The Skype Group, acquired by eBay in October 2005, is headquartered in Luxembourg, with offices in London, Tallinn and Prague.

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  • David Field devotee
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    I'm interested to see what happens in the future with skype, as Google has bought thier closes VoIP competitor Gizmo, however skype does keep its jewels private, its codecs. This i fear may be its demise, however that being said, its a great app, and the paid up services are worth thier weight in gold if you travel a lot and don't want a roaming mobile. and the cross platform functionality is wonderful for a user like me who uses multiple platforms.

  • msheppard devotee
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    Great way to avoid a separate home office wired phone line. The latest version of the interface has some pretty annoying quirks that I really don't expect in such a world class product.

  • Koiranpentu fanatic

    A great messenger. Even better than msn.

  • igrick devotee

    Perfect messenger. Nice smiles and good quality of calls.

  • Shamono expert

    Great tool for free phone calls - both PC to Land/Mobile and PC to PC.

  • Justin Daigle fanatic
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    I seldom actually use it, but it's nice for having free online conversations. Considering most of my contacts are outside the US, it definitely saves money. I miss when they had the free calls to US and Canada landlines thing though.

  • Dataajalamppu expert

    good software

  • markashworth devotee
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    Great quality for calls to/from China from Singapore.

  • stuffiwrote devotee
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    Saved a fortune using Skype over calling cards or standard long distance call rates over the years I've used Skype. Suffers from occasional audio hiccups but for a US$10 top up now and again for international calls you just can't beat it. Looking at Google Voice now though so may defect from Skype in the near future.

  • AdamB enthusiast
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    Skype is a great piece of software, it has many options such as screen sharing, video sharing etc.. it isn't as good as iChat (mac) however it is defiantly still great.

    - The video transfer rate can be a bit laggy compared to competitors but it is much better than MSN's transfer rate.

  • Shinigami fanatic
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    Perfect =)

  • Nullface devotee
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    Awesome program, using it to talk to friends.

  • marcelofs fanatic
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    It's cool. Way better then WLM/mIRC when chatting with a lot of people simultaneously, since it keeps track of the messages you received and shows them when you get online...

  • Swizchese devotee
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    This is THE IM. Its biggest advantage is its call system; you can use Skype to call actual phone numbers (it costs around the same for phones but has no additional fees for "oversea" calls), and you can even forward calls on Skype onto your cell phone. The quality is top-notch and while the video chats are somewhat blurry, they are just as good as any other video chat app you have out there. And screen-sharing is a godsend!

  • anomalousclouds fanatic
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    I'm totally satisfied with my Skype experience so far, so long as you have a fairly decent connection with your ISP, call quality is top-notch... and of course it's free unless you're calling a traditional phone - but even those rates are nearly the cheapest I've ever seen. I haven't really tried to use it with SMS... even though Google voice claims it can't send international SMS, I've done it for free with them. =) Having both is very nice.

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Website: skype.com
Developer: Skype Technologies S.A.
License: Free
Version: 4.2
Rating: Features:
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Overall:
Usage: 26 years, 1 week, 6 days, 1 hour, 27 minutes and 4 seconds
Usage since: 20 April 2007
Platform Usage:
Mac
(26%)
Windows
(67%)
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Popularity over the last 30 days (?)

Skype vs.

Rank: #14