"mr.b" wrote in news
1. If Don is on a cable, Skype software may identify his connection
as a supernode, thus Don's $50/mnth bandwidth is used to route calls
for Skype, not that they let Don know that that's what could happen
nor does Skype reimburse Don for the use of a service that Don is
paying for.

Not true. Skype uses your connection to route your connection data through
and passes those connected through you their contact list and who's online.
It does NOT, route any calls, whatsoever through your system. Mine's been
on it for a long time. It's bandwidth usage is undetectable, even on
limited bandwidth DSL. I'm on a 7Mbps cable connection through a
wired/wifi router, sometimes with 3 Skype devices running at once. It has
made NO difference in my constant usenet downloading or it would have been
gone long ago.

2. Proprietary software/encryption/protocols that
according to the head-honcho at Skype "will not pass OpenSource
auditing for security".


AS I don't send state secrets over Skype's connection, I doubt anyone will
become enthralled with my Skype conversations with Skip aboard Flying Pig
about Icom HF Radios connecting through SGC antenna tuners. Proprietary it
is. Proprietary is fine with me if they're letting me use it so cheap as
Skype does. As a matter of fact, I hope it's so damned proprietary the
government snooping bureaucrats aren't listening to our every word,
especially when talking to some hot chick who's telling me she's gonna make
me sleep a week!....(c;

I monitor my TCP/IP connections constantly and closely using TCPView from
www.sysinternals.com. I also monitor system loading with Process Explorer
from the same website. Neither Skype or its proxy for other users routed
through my free software pose any threat to the system or use any
detectable bandwidth. What this small usage DOES accomplish for me is a
near infinite possible routing network of all 6,800,000 Skype users online
as I type this, making the system damn near crash proof! Unless my local
pipe is down, I've never seen Skype ever NOT connect to its servers. Too
bad other systems are not this reliable. Bandwidth is cheap and goes,
mostly, unused. Skype can use my bandwidth just like the boys using my
wifi hotspot do.

The maximum connections I've ever seen on the home system with cable
bandwidth is 7. One of those was MY connection to the Skype network,
fanned out to 6 other users. Halting all other TCP access to the router, I
noticed the cable light intermittently blinking about every 6-9 seconds,
handling this awful load. Watching the Ethernet lights blinking about as
often, I think I was watching about as much Ethernet broadcasts as Skype's
traffic. Downloading movies during this time was too close to cap speed to
even matter......

What IS funny is watching 3 or 4 users using my notebook's Skype through
the free wifi at a restaurant for the brief time I'm online, there...(c;