Skype vs. AIM

Does anybody reading this (I'm presuming if you read this, I probably know you... ) use Skype for instant messaging and internet voice calls yet?

I'm "ryancnelson" on skype... give me a ping if you're someone I know in the real world and you use it.

I'm contemplating using it more (and encouraging its use) because of the nasty new terms of service AOL recently put on AIM... they essentially get a free license to do whatever they want with what you put through the AOL Instant Messaging system... I'm concerned about things like URL's you may send to others... do those get indexed? (UPDATE: they've changed their terms-of-service to clarify that they were just talking about "posts on forums, not person-to-person communications. I hope this serves as a reminder for internet companies that "New Coke" wasn't a fluke... if people love and use your product/service that doesn't mean you have the power to just change it without those people flipping out. "You belong to the people now"... or they'll dump ya for RC-cola and Jabber)

The "blogging revolution" was really just about the emergence of tools that make it really easy for people to get their content onto the web... I predict the new versions of those tools will make it trivially easy to password protect that content so that yeah, here's my web-journal for all the world, but let's keep those pictures from the office party NON-googleable, a'ight?

(thought: an apache plugin making it so a file in a directory called ".pw_filename.jpg" makes "filename.jpg" password-protected. That file would contain simple lines like "username:password" to specify valid logins to get the stuff. A file named ".directory_pw" might protect the whole directory. I know this is already possible with .htaccess files, and Apache configs, but my goal is to make it easy for the non-technical person who now knows how to upload stuff to also protect it, at least a little.)

Skype is also pretty handy in some other situations, because it's robust enough to transfer files through firewalls (it's SIP-like, if you know what that means), it's end-to-end encrypted, and for a penny or two a minute, you can dial real telephones with it. I've used it from my desk (which has a real phone) just so I could leverage the bluetooth headset I have for my cellphone, which also works with my mac.

You can also four-way conference call people with Skype, which actually works out to be cheaper than some commercial conference bridges, just mute your computer's mic, and skype-call two friends, then yourself (at your desk)... with something like this to record the conversation, you can even keep recordings of the meetings. I really like the convergence of my computer and the phone... I'm always near a computer anyway, and half my phone conversations are about fixing something on a computer someplace. (I know, I'm not typical)

Next trick, I'm trying to get a handy way for anyone (well, anyone I want) to see what I'm typing into a terminal... like "screencasting", but simple, just an old-skool green screen. With that, network support engineers, co-workers with a late-night patch for me to apply, or friends wanting me to fix their movable-type install can watch me type while we talk on our internet phones. I've used "kibitz" before for this, but it's not a "picture of the text", it's the actual text, which requires both sides to be logged into the same machine, and different term window sizes mess it all up.

(I've actually got a shared-virtual-screen like this already working with VNC and the Java web viewer. It's pretty slick, but I've yet to actually use it for work.)