VoIP made easy?

By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net HERE'S one of those someone-must-have-thought-about-it bright ideas: a browser- based video chat service. As described in this NYT story, TokBox has some good vibes about it: the people behind YouTube (including the unheralded "third" founder Jawed Karim) are also funding it. It reminds me of Meebo -- no need to install YM, MSN or Skype (a blessing for u sers whose office networks are firewall-protected and thus, IM-proof). Just log on and chat away; both you and your friend should have a webcam, of course. I've yet to try it myself to see how it compares with either YM or Skype (and s ee whether it runs properly on "broadband" in this country). But while reading about it, the first thing I thought about was how something like this makes it easier to teach Internet calls to the uninitiated. All you need is a good enoug h Internet connection and a few clicks should put you on VoIP mode.