VoIP made easy?
- Convergence -
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 users 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 see 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 enough Internet connection and a few clicks should put you on VoIP mode.
