With SkypeOut, the "deluxe" version of Skype, you're charged a flat rate of about US$0.02 per minute, depending on your call's destination.
Placing calls isn't much more difficult than dialing a regular phone: Start the program, click on the contact you want to talk to and press the "call" button. The catch with regular Skype is that the person you're calling must also be sitting at a computer.
Unlike any previous ITP solution, Skype has also been developed for Pocket PCs. But since these devices often don't have built-in microphones, users must tote around a microphone headset. (Headsets, it should be noted, are the best way to use Skype. If your computer has a built-in microphone and speakers, the user on the other end can often hear themselves speaking.)
Just how much of a killer application is it? Michael Powell, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in the US was quoted in Fortune Magazine this past February saying that he "knew it was over" when he downloaded the program.
"When the inventors of KaZaA are distributing for free a little program that you can use to talk to anybody else, and the quality is fantastic, and it's free -- it's over," he said. "The world will change, inevitably."
It hasn't changed the world yet. Interested users should note that the software will only run on latter model machines. Mac users, for instance, must be running OS X 10.3 Panther.
But the world will quickly find a place for free telephone calling. Already 30 million people have downloaded it. Try it for yourself. You've nothing to lose but your long-distance phone bill.
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