When I met Skype’s Vice President for Consumer Products, Neil Stevens, at CES 2011, one of his points was that he wanted to see more frequent Skype client upgrades, reducing the time between new upgrades from 12 to 18 months down to 2 to 3 months. Skype certainly demonstrated that last week when, two months after the launch of Skype 5.1 for Windows, Skype released Skype for Windows 5.2 with a set of subtle improvements that largely relate to the user experience when initiating calls.

The most obvious change is to the Call Bar. Whereas previously one would see:

the Call Bar has become:

The most obvious change is the switching of the order of the “Video Call” and (voice) “Call” buttons and the  elimination of a separate line for “Skype”, “Mobile”, “Office”, etc. numbers. No doubt the former is a result of two factors:

• the popularity of video calling where Skype claims that over 40% of all calls are now video calls and
• the recent introduction of Group Video calling as  a revenue generating premium service

Access to any type of voice call is now done via the Call Button, which has acquired an associated drop down menu. In turn this drop down menu provides the access to the contact’s various voice calling options. If the Contact’s presence is Online(), a Skype-to-Skype call would be the default.  Should be user not be available (Offline, Invisible or set for Call Forwarding ) but has entered a mobile or landline number into their Skype profile, there are three changes:

• the Call button has changed to read “Call Mobile” (or Office or Home)
• the Mobile, Home or Office number would be checked off as the default destination for placing a call.
• you have a “heads up” that a Skype-to-Skype call selection will result in reaching the contact’s voice mail

While the drop down menu shows a default based on presence, you can still select one of the other options to initiate a voice call but you are now forewarned that a Skype-to-Skype call to someone with one of the three “not present” statuses mentioned above could result in reaching their voicemail.

Note that the drop down menu also allows the addition of a phone number. Very handy when you know the contact’s phone number but they have not entered it into their Skype profile.

One more change to the Call Bar: the “Share Button” provides a ready access to sharing a Contact or File. If you are in a call, the Screen Sharing option becomes available.

Bottom line: while these changes can reduce the number of clicks to make a call or share information, they also provide, in a subtle way, readier access to Skype’s revenue generating Group Video Calling and SkypeOut services. With only 8% of Skype users actually using SkypeOut it would be interesting to see if these changes actually provide any more than slightly incremental revenues.

Watch for a post on the changes to the “Call Phones” menu.

Download Skype 5.2 for Windows here or go to Help | Check for Updates in your Skype for Windows client.

And should you even be making a voice call? Check out this New York TImes article: Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You. (Warning NYT may have initiated their pay wall.)

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It all started when I attended the June 2 Android launch on Rogers Wireless. During a scrum I had asked “Fringe” actor Joshua Jackson if he had made a call from Paris, France to his wife in Vancouver using Skype for Android (Skype Lite). Rogers Wireless CMO John Boynton interjected that Rogers allows all applications to run on their networks; the inability to run Skype was an issue that required Skype’s initiative to resolve (there’s a regulatory issue). Later during a demonstration of the Android when I had noticed the Skype Lite beta icon on one of the HTC Android phones, a Rogers marketing person volunteered that Rogers does not block any applications.

Fast forward to the Canadian Telecom Summit two weeks later when recently appointed Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed made similar points about Rogers policy on network management during his leadoff keynote presentation. But it was during a Net Neutrality forum presentation the following day by Rogers Chief Strategy Office Mike Lee that we got to the meat of the topic; three of his slides articulate the story:

followed by:

followed by:

In his commentary, Mike pointed out that the focus of Rogers’ network management policy is on optimizing the behavior of the network such as to give customers the response they expect. Other points Mike made:

• In today’s world a service provider needs to deliver the best possible experience for the broadest range of customers.
• Rogers primary business is providing Internet access in a market that has a focus on speed and accessibility.
• Rogers is not in the business of managing applications or specific customer uses.
• Rogers’ traffic management is designed specifically so that Skype works well.
• The only throttling of traffic relates to p2p file sharing traffic (i.e. BitTorrent) to which a dedicated channel is assigned so that p2p traffic does not swamp the network and interfere with other customers’ access to the network.
• In response to query from the audience, Rogers only provides network management for their retail customers. Any MVNO using the Rogers backbone via a wholesale arrangement gets the “raw” Internet and must establish their own network management practices.

Mike’s presentation was followed by Skype’s Christopher Libertelli, Director of North American Government Relations, making Skype’s usual pitch supporting network neutrality. The final forum participant was Dave Caputo, CEO of Sandvine, a provider of network infrastructure software focused on improving the quality of customer experience. Dave’s main point was that an unmanaged network does not equate to network neutrality; however, Internet service providers have the most to gain from permitting the diversity that attracts the most customers.

In the end all three agreed that a focus on the customer experience, while managing the network only to the level of protecting the network’s integrity while achieving customer satisfaction, will make a sustainable win-win for both the network operator and the end user.

But the Rogers’ approach to network management really hit home when, the day after the forum, I found a post by Skype’s Director of EU Government Relations, Jean-Jacques Sahel, “’You touch my Skype, you touch my freedom of expression and communication’ – access to the Internet recognised as a fundamental human right (at last)” where it appears the European Parliament is at odds with individual European governments over net neutrality issues.

EU law should ensure that citizens can exercise their freedom of expression and communication and can benefit from Internet access that is open, taking into account the requirements expressed by users to make use of, and distribute, content, applications and services on the Internet. Access to Internet content, services and applications, as confirmed by the French Conseil Constitutionnel, is an explicit part of the fundamental rights of citizens to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference and regardless of frontiers. Additionally, unrestricted Internet access to content, services and applications is also a necessity for the preservation of the effectiveness of European and national policies designed to combat social exclusion, promote education, training, employment, etc.

Seems like some European carriers have not quite yet got the message being put forward by Rogers – these operators can’t quite deal with the gradual shift in power from the carrier to the consumer.

My own experience: When I am able to run SlingPlayer for BlackBerry over Rogers 3G service, whereas AT&T feels that this application would overload their network, I am getting the response I expect. When Skype video calling runs such that, on full screen mode, I feel the other party appears to be “across the desk” I am getting the response i expect. When Rogers is offering WiFi-based services that complement their 3G network service I get the response I expect (hello Verizon!).

Bottom line: Under new CEO Nadir Mohammed Rogers’ focus is on the customer experience as their ultimate sustainable advantage. Their network management practices address network integrity issues: spam, viruses, denial of service attacks and ensuring that p2p file sharing does not deprive others of their expected service level. They simply do not have the time nor resources to worry about “limiting” or manipulating access to Internet traffic based on applications or offerings.

Certainly there are still issues outstanding at Rogers with respect to, say, roaming charges and length of contracts. But, in response to my question to Nadir about roaming charges, he stated there is currently a disconnect when there is such a disparity between local and roaming “per MB” data charges. However, he continued by saying that this is an area that Rogers is reviewing. In fact, Alec Saunders found a “customer service fairy” when he called Rogers this past week in anticipation of a forthcoming trip to the U.S. On the other hand, Alec would like to see increased upload speeds for the coming flood of video applications. (DOCSIS 3.0, anyone?)

In summary, Rogers appears to be establishing a world-leading benchmark for adhering to application-agnostic net neutrality policies in practice; they are not simply mouthing the network neutrality message but also executing on it.

Footnotes:

• My thanks to Rogers CSO Mike Lee for providing me with a copy of slides used at his Net Neutrality forum presentation at the Canadian Telecom Summit.
• Rogers WiFi-based services include participation in the Canadian HotSpot Network and Rogers TalkSpotTM service that allows one to make voice calls via any WiFi access point in Canada for a fixed monthly fee.

(As for the issues Skype is facing with respect to offering SkypeIn, Skype To Go, Skype for iPhone and Skype for BlackBerry in Canada – that will be the subject of another post. But they are NOT Rogers issues.)

Full disclosure: the author is a full paying Rogers customer for all their services: wireless, cableTV, high speed Internet and Home Phone.

When I went to sign up for InnerPass Share and Collaborate a couple of weeks ago I was surprised to find a 50% discount on their Professional Plan. Normally $4.95 per month, a twelve month subscription will only cost $29.95. But this promotion only lasts for another week to May 31, 2009.

Recall that document sharing is InnerPass core strength; they have integrated Skype and desktop sharing to build document rooms where shared documents can be persistently stored and retrieved as necessary by designated “room” participants.

Subscribing to any of the InnerPass subscription plans (Personal (free), Professional or Business) during this promotion (by May 31, 2009) also enters your name to win the new ASUS Eee Skype Videophone AiGuru SV1. Having had an evaluation unit for a few weeks, I’ll be providing a review shortly. In the interim, suffice it to say, it provides an interesting Skype video call experience – without the need for a personal computer. Simply plug into an Ethernet jack or sign onto a WiFi network, enter your Skype account information and you’re able to make Skype video calls.

As for using the InnerPass document management service, I am finding that its persistence feature is quite useful for project document sharing without the need for using more complicated ftp services to exchange files. Since its launch this past January (2009), over 800,000 hosts and guests have been exposed to InnerPass’s service.

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At CES 2009 COO Scott Durchslag spoke about “liquid communications” and “Skype Wherever, Whenever”. InnerPass has developed a business-class hosted document management system; they have been marketing it via private label to over 3000 businesses or project teams on several continents.Over the past year the InnerPass team has developed a Skype Extra application that introduces real time communications, and serves as an interface, into this system.  From their website:

InnerPass helps companies control their business critical files from anywhere and anytime. Our applications are delivered thru various Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings that are entirely web-based. InnerPass primarily offers its applications to end users through a network of partners who can private label and embed the software service into their own solutions or provide as a stand alone service.

InnerPass Share and Collaborate Home Page

InnerPass starts out its communications enhanced service, called InnerPass Share and Collaborate, by building persistent document “meeting rooms” that store mission critical documents such as FDA filings, engineering and architectural drawings, legal agreements, real estate papers and other business documents which require:

• access across a geographically dispersed team of project stakeholders
• persistent storage for asynchronous 24/7/365 access
• version management

amongst other features. InnerPass has taken their document management service experience and gone a step further to support file sharing, collaboration and real time communications. They embed, within their own Skype Extra client, the ability to launch and hold real time voice and/or chat conversations, whether informal ad hoc sessions or scheduled conference calls, to discuss the underlying projects, sales meetings or other business team activity.

Using InnerPass Share and Collaborate, a user can set up a “meeting room”, store documents, launch conversations and share a designated screen for presentations or demonstrations. The room’s host can designate and invite team members from amongst his/her Skype contact list, grant permission to their team members to contribute or modify room content. From anywhere in the client, any team member has the ability to schedule and launch conference calls or group chats using the integrated Skype services.

InnerPass offers three levels of their collaboration service. A free service supports up to 3 meeting rooms with a maximum of 3 participants and 1GB of file storage (max 25MB per file). Offering perpetual file storage, the Professional Plan at $4.95/month supports 10 meeting rooms and up to 10 participants in each. The Business plan, at $12.95/month, allows up to 40 rooms and 40 people per room. Their last plan, launching in March,  is designed for the SMB (Small to Medium Size Business) will offer additional features including access to their hosted full document management service. Update (May 2009): Inner Pass also offers a “Custom” service with the potential to host a webinar with hundreds of attendees, record calls and other features.

Over the past few weeks I have experienced a few sessions using InnerPass; the InnerPass  team has been very responsive to suggestions made for improvements, especially with respect to some speed issues that are now resolved. It now works reliably with both Skype 3.8 (still Skype’s latest release for general use) and Skype 4.0 Beta 3.

Since obtaining Skype Certification and its subsequent launch last fall, InnerPass has registered over 270,000 users (as shown in the graphic) growing virally amongst Skype users with little publicity. You can download via Tools | Do More | Get Skype Extras using Skype 3.8 or Tools | Extras | Get Skype Extras under Skype 4.0 for Windows beta 3. Normally it should show up as “InnerPass Share and Collaborate” under the “Sharing” category but until a bug is resolved by the Skype Extras team, you may find it as “Share, Collaborate, Communicate”.

InnerPass CEO Steve Parsloe has written a more detailed post for Skype’s Autumn 2008 Developer Newsletter. And in early December Steve along with his colleague Bill Trail, Vice-President, Business Development discussed InnerPass as a guest on SquawkBox.

As mentioned at the beginning, InnerPass’s Share and Collaborate service is a representative example of making Skype available anywhere there is an opportunity to benefit from real time conversations. Skype has enabled InnerPass to offer real time conversations to virtual meeting rooms incorporating file and desktop (or screen) sharing. And it brings large enterprise services down to a cost level such that any individual, mobile professional or small business can afford to benefit from a collaborative document management service.

Tags: InnerPass, Skype Extras, collaboration, file sharing, Skype, Steve Parsloe

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One unique aspect of Skype is its very “fluid” or simple approach to adding a another contact to a Skype call to build a conference call. Select “Add a Caller”, select the contact to be added (or enter a phone number, if on SkypeOut), click “OK” and the caller is added. I find I am having more frequent multi-party calls as a result of this simplicity of establishing conference calls for up to 10 participants.

In the past web collaboration has been associated with structured meetings, involving scheduling, emailing invitations and other activities just to set up a desktop sharing session. But a “fluid collaboration” (YouTube video) approach – that allows users to spontaneously escalate conversations from voice and text to incorporate desktop sharing, persistent file sharing and whiteboarding – provides a more intuitive ad hoc process. Yugma’s Web Collaboration for desktop sharing has an architecture that has taken this approach.

Another user consideration: The increased acceptance of both Mac (a record 2.1 million sold in the fiscal 2007 fourth quarter) and Linux (especially Ubuntu) platforms in the market a has led to rising demand for Skype Extras that run on these platforms. A good place to start is a desktop sharing application that is effectively agnostic to the operating system and runs seamlessly in cross-platform scenarios.

Yugma, who has been providing desktop sharing services for a couple of years, recently released a version 3 upgrade to its Yugma Skype Edition, Once installed on a Windows platform simply go to Tools | Do More in the Skype for Windows client and “YugmaSE Team Collaboration” will appear on the drop-down list; on the Mac, install Yugma from the Yugma website and then simply start Yugma Skype. Currently Linux participants can view a session but not host one.

Initiating a session: Once Yugma Skype has been installed via the Skype Extras menu, the ad hoc launch process involves:

• launching the host’s Yugma Skype client via Skype’s Tools | Do More menu¹
• inviting the participants available as Skype Contacts via an “Invite Participants” window which sends a Skype chat message with the URL,
• inviting participants who are not Skype contacts via email address entry from the same window; the resulting email, containing a link, should arrive within a couple of minutes of sending; and
• letting the Yugma Skype client download onto the remote participants’ PC’s and install (if this is the first Yugma Skype session on the PC)¹

Operations: The basic Yugma Skype Toolbar provides an overview of several features:

• Begin Sharing: launches the sharing of your own desktop
• The “mouse” desktop icon controls mouse and keyboard sharing with other participants in the session.
• The mannequin image icon allows you, as the host, to change the presenter who would then share his/her desktop.
• The “page” icon launches a file sharing client.
• The crossed sticks icon opens up a drawing toolbar to provide annotation
• The circle starts session recording
• The right arrow commences playback of a recording
• The double circle allows you to upload a recorded file to your PC
• The matrix image launches the session scheduling website page for those events when you require scheduled collaboration..

The Session

The session above is a shared Mac desktop being viewed on my Windows XP Professional laptop.

The host has various options as represented by the toolbar shown above with additional options in the Action drop down menu shown on the right. Usually the host would “Begin Sharing” simply to ensure the connectivity with other parties is there. At that point the host can continue sharing or change the presenter to one of the other participants. Other options in the toolbar are described above. One should note:

• Users must set up the voice conferencing independently using any of the voice services shown below.
• Participants can be invited in either an active sharing mode or a passive viewing only mode.The host would also need to add them to the voice conference call. Only “active sharing” participants are able to share their desktops – when invited by a host on a Professional account.
• Underneath the bandwidth indicator and to the right of the Session ID number is a Click-to-Copy button with three options as shown. Very handy for launching spontaneous, ad hoc sharing sessions when in a Skype conversation.
• Changing presenters, sharing desktop controls, session recording, scheduling and shared file space require one of the Professional accounts beyond a 15-day trial period.
• Yugma Skype will share either the entire desktop or one selected application. Presenters should make sure their screen is not showing any confidential information.
• The “Shared File Space” client provides a “persistent” shared file space where up to 100 MB of “sharable” files may be stored for retrieval either during a session or later. The host has access to his/her Shared File Space even if there are no other participants in a session.
• Persistent Meeting mode: you can leave a meeting open for various participants to join by keeping the same Meeting ID and communicating it to parties with whom you want to do desktop sharing in the normal course of your activities. The host can also “dismiss” participants at will.
• In the upper right corner of the client is a bandwidth indicator; it should be at least two bars strong to have a continuously reliable sharing session.

In our tests, involving two parties, we found that changes on the screen, such as text chat entries and changing the focus window, were transmitted quite rapidly; only the live video of the Skype call could not keep pace with the video movement. Remote display quality is excellent; while normally it will default to an optimum size on a remote PC there is an option to adjust the remote viewer size (File | Settings) for best viewing.

I have found the combination of Yugma Web Collaboration and Skype’s conference calling algorithm make it a very easy process to set up a small training session, to present a personalized product demonstration or to incorporate desktop sharing into a customer support call. If you are in a Skype call and have a persistent meeting implemented, along with a Skype chat session running, it’s as simple as restoring the Yugma client, Copy a URL via the click-to-copy button and Paste the resulting URL into the chat window. The other party(ies) then click on the URL to access the session.

The essentials:

• Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS/X 10.3 or higher, Linux; also requires Java 1.5 or later.
  • If the user does not have Java installed – often the case for Vista installations, a Yugma-specific Java client is included in the Yugma Skype installation¹.
• Yugma Skype runs on its own (Java) client; however, there is interaction with the web browser; either IE 6 or 7 or Firefox 2.0, as well as the Safari browser on the Mac.
• Meeting Types: Instant, Scheduled, Recurring (through persistent meeting ID)
  • Invite participants via a Skype contact list and email to non-Skype participants
• Packages:
  • Free: (“Personal”) 10 participants plus host; basic desktop sharing, instant sessions only; website support only; sponsor advertisements.
  • Professional: 10, 30, 100, 500 participants: $9.95/month, $29.95/month, $69.95/month, $89.95/month respectively. Adds “change presenter”, remote participant mouse and keyboard controls, session scheduling, web session recording and playback, shared file space. Webinar features on 100, 500 participant packages. Enhanced support via email, phone and web.
  • A 15-day free Professional 10 trial is available to test the service.
• Voice services:
  • Currently voice operates independently of the Yugma Skype client; conference hosts have several options for setting up a conference call:
  • Skype’s inherent conference call feature (up to 10 participants via either Skype or SkypeOut);
  • and three low cost extended conferencing services (long distance charges may apply)
    • Yugma’s Free Teleconferencing service: call into +1-605-475-4261; long distance charges may apply.
    • HighSpeedConferencing (up to 500 participants on either Skype or landline/mobile phones) with HD Voice for Skype participants.
    • iotum’s FreeConferenceCall service (an optional Facebook application – not supported by Yugma)
  • as Yugma’s desktop sharing is almost totally independent of the voice service, you can also use other VoIP or PSTN conferencing services. However, with Skype there is ready access to Skype contacts for chat and other Skype features
• Private (as disclosed by host’s sharing the session ID through individual invitations);
• Public via a Widget button or, for Professional 100 and 500 subscribers, the Yugma Webinar feature.
• Capacity: up to 500 participants
• Web Session Recording (Professional subscription required)
• Access: via Skype Extras (Tools | Do More – Windows only), Skype Extras website (Windows and Mac) or from Yugma’s website (Windows and Mac editions).

Positioning: Yugma Skype is unique for its cross platform desktop sharing capability and providing a free basic desktop sharing service that can have as many as ten participants in a desktop sharing session. Session recording, whiteboarding and file sharing options make it a more feature rich platform. Operation of desktop sharing sessions has always been quite smooth, with rapid refreshes, and transparent to the platform itself provided there is adequate bandwidth on the Internet connection; this is where the bandwidth indicator has been a valuable aid.

Strengths:

• Cross platform desktop sharing (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Free basic desktop sharing for host + 10 participants
• Rapid remote viewing updates from shared desktop
• Rapidly switch presenters (shared desktop)
• Choice of interactive (Sharing) or passive (Viewer) modes for remote participants
• Several voice conferencing options
• Display versatility: options to resize the remote desktop viewing window
• Web session recording
• Connection strength indicator

Weaknesses:

• Needs the ability to include voice conference information within the desktop sharing invitations
• Lacks tight integration of Skype voice channel to voice conferencing options
• Lack of Outlook integration for email invitations

Other posts in this series on collaboration tools:

• Desktop Collaboration: Ten Years Later – The Skype Impact
• Desktop Collaboration: The Skype Ecosystem Expands

¹Windows Vista users may encounter several “permission” windows during installation as explained in Alec Saunders post about “Sun’s Tactical Error on Java”. This may change with Windows Vista SP1.