Skype is bad, why?

[Dreawyn]

Hey there, seen Linus call Skype bad a few times at least in the WaN show and I am really, really curious about why it is so bad / why it has a bad reputation and whatnot:

I use it currently because well, no knowledge of better options. The adds that are now popping up constantly are annoying, so looking for reasons why its being called bad otherwise and other possible options for a replacer.

Cheers.

[DoubleY]

There is a bug that gives away your ip address, thus letting DDoSers have their fun

[_ASSASSIN_]

too many dropped calls

[Tea1337]

Skypes connection is sometimes weak, and it's also possible to get ones IP address through it.

[ANUPLUCIFERGAMER]

Skypes connection is sometimes weak, and it's also possible to get ones IP address through it.

Gotta check that thing out

[Dreawyn]

Well that was some fast responses, awesome!

Anything that you would recommend to replace skype with, mostly for IMs / long duration video calls.

[SirReallySam]

Hey there, seen Linus call Skype bad a few times at least in the WaN show and I am really, really curious about why it is so bad / why it has a bad reputation and whatnot:

I use it currently because well, no knowledge of better options. The adds that are now popping up constantly are annoying, so looking for reasons why its being called bad otherwise and other possible options for a replacer.

Cheers.

 

 

There is a bug that gives away your ip address, thus letting DDoSers have their fun

THIS!!! ALL THE THIS!

Why no MSN MICROSOFT D: That didn't have this flaw!

[Tea1337]

Well that was some fast responses, awesome!

Anything that you would recommend to replace skype with, mostly for IMs / long duration video calls.

Skype is fine to use for that, it's just your IP is sitting out there for someoen to get.

[ZetZet]

Skype bad sound quality, easy to get ip and it also had this bug that used 99% of my cpu which was annoying. I still have to use it though because there are no real alternatives.

[Dreawyn]

Skype is fine to use for that, it's just your IP is sitting out there for someoen to get.

I might be a bit over dramatic, but I don't like people having an relatively easy chance to get my IP adress. Also due to me being so suspicious I do not even use google as my main search engine anymore, and whatnot

[rustikles]

It's a bit buggy right now, but I kind of like the functionality that google hangouts offers (*begin hate*). For the people I talk to, being able to collaborate with things like google docs and youtube videos is quite compelling. 

 

Again, sometimes it is buggy as hell, but I've grown to like it.

[RelentlessAF]

I've been using Razer Comms lately and it has never had a problem for me. My friends and I used to use Skype but the connection would always somehow get screwed up even though we all have moderately fast internet.

[needmorewood]

The bandwidth it takes is absolutely stupid high. sound quality is inferior to its competition, not encrypted, you can get DDoS attack from someone just know your skype name. and there are ads.

the only thing it has going for itself is ease of use. but imo the cons way over power the pros

[jaqiefox]

The thing is unreliable and buggy as all hell, the UI is a horrible mess, microsoft servers parse through your chat and check out URLs you paste into chats for people, ads ads everywhere even though it uses your own bandwidth in a p2p network... need I go on?

[MountainDrew]

I stopped using Skype a long time ago ever since someone got my IP address and random people started giving me friend requests and messages for no apparent reason.  I have a 500+ mb/s internet speed and yet the call quality is still terrible.

[FellTheSky]

its bad because team speak exists 

[Dreawyn]

Still looking for replacement for skype then: Need to be able to make video calls too, wasn't exactly sure if the razer one has that option I didn't really see it there. I might be blind.

[neon]

Leaking the IP address isn't that bad, at least it isn't that bad for non 'famous' people, it's bad for LTT because they obviously have the WAN show and a youtube channel so they are a target, not much bragging rights on ddosing some randomer on the internet is there?

 

But the reason I say IP address isn't too bad is there are many other ways it is leaked, most commonly is every website you visit gets your IP address and sending an email on anything other than the Gmail web interface or the gmail android app in the emails header your IP address is there for anyone to see, and if you use gmail through a mail program thunderbird, k9, ect. that also will have your IP address in it.

 

But I appreciate it that it is worse someone who knows your skype name to be able to look up your IP versus them knowing your email address and getting them to make you send an email to them or visiting a website they own, and now that most things on skype are not P2P anymore then there really is no excuse exposing the IP address.

[Lays]

snip

 

It's bad for anyone that plays online games.   Especially if there's money to be made from you getting ddosed, and them taking your items, selling them for IRL cash.

 

I used to play RuneScape back in the day. I, among others had somewhat of a shady business going on..  I made LOTS of money doing it, and while I'm not proud of those "darker days", the reality is: people don't give a crap about people if they can benefit somehow from screwing someone else over.

 

I have friends that have literally made of thousands of dollars ddosing people at the duel arena, all you need is a friend or a way to get their skype name, put it in the resolver, and bam last known IP that logged into the skype.

 

Moral of the story: Your ip is important, protect it as best you can, whether you're famous or not.

[DoubleY]

read plz ^

 

Leaking the IP address isn't that bad, at least it isn't that bad for non 'famous' people, it's bad for LTT because they obviously have the WAN show and a youtube channel so they are a target, not much bragging rights on ddosing some randomer on the internet is there?

 

But the reason I say IP address isn't too bad is there are many other ways it is leaked, most commonly is every website you visit gets your IP address and sending an email on anything other than the Gmail web interface or the gmail android app in the emails header your IP address is there for anyone to see, and if you use gmail through a mail program thunderbird, k9, ect. that also will have your IP address in it.

 

But I appreciate it that it is worse someone who knows your skype name to be able to look up your IP versus them knowing your email address and getting them to make you send an email to them or visiting a website they own, and now that most things on skype are not P2P anymore then there really is no excuse exposing the IP address.

How can you not care if somebody has your ip address?

[squirrl]

Skype bad sound quality, easy to get ip and it also had this bug that used 99% of my cpu which was annoying. I still have to use it though because there are no real alternatives.

You obviously haven't had a call on steam That's 1000% worse than skype.

[ZetZet]

You obviously haven't had a call on steam That's 1000% worse than skype.

Now you see I didn't even know steam had calls, because I don't ever need to use that.

[neon]

read plz ^

 

How can you not care if somebody has your ip address?

 

I never said that and I definitely do care, if there was even a hint that someone had my IP address I would change it (the ISP I am on I can), but what I'm saying is whereas the Skype bug is bad, very bad, it's not exactly the only way to get the IP address, if that bug didn't exist then chances are people would find another way to get the IP address, eg. you find out they use hotmail, send them some generic hate that they're a crap gamer they may reply and you have their IP address.

 

Even though Skype is used by gamers it wasn't really supposed to be, things like teamspeak was designed for gamers and is much better at it without the IP bug, the fact that Skype was always a Peer-to-Peer application I never have any expectation that the other users cannot get my IP address by using it, that's how P2P works.

 

Microsoft should fix it no question about it, but for most people it's a none issue, I treat my skype name like my phone number, and like a phone number I only give it to people I trust, when I found out hotmail attached my IP address to every email I sent I was far far more annoyed than the Skype bug, because I knew how Skype worked, but stuff like email is completely server based so that shouldn't need my IP address right in the header.