Skype - программа IP-телефонии - позволяет общаться голосом через �?нтернет (компьютер-компьютер), причем для качественной связи вполне достаточно даже невысокой скорости dial-up соединения; поддерживается работа через файрволлы NAT. Для пущей приватности связь �?ифруется.

Особенности:
*Неограниченные временем и расстоянием звонки другим абонентам Skype
*Превосходное качество звука – луч�?е, чем в обычном телефоне
*Работа со всеми брандмауэрами, NAT и роутерами без конфигурирования!
*Список абонентов показывает вам доступность ва�?их друзей Skype для общения
*Ва�?и беседы за�?ифрованы от и до для максимальной секретности
*Основан на технологии peer-to-peer, развитой создателями Kazaa и Joltid.

Skype is software that enables the world's conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Everyday, people also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles.

Skype was founded in 2003. It’s based in Luxembourg, with offices in Europe, the US and Asia. It’s owned by an investor group led by Silver Lake and which includes eBay Inc, Joltid Limited and Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz.

Responsible for 8% of global international calling minutes, and with its users making 3.1 billion minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles in the third quarter of 2009, Skype is a leading global internet communications company. And of course, Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls are completely free. In the third quarter of 2009, Skype users made 27.7 billion minutes of Skype-to-Skype calls, and over a third of these were video calls.

Skype’s buzzing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, worldwide. At peak times, there are up to 20 million people online. What’s most important, however, is what Skype can do. Voice and video calling, IM and SMS are now available on a wide range of operating systems and mobile devices. They connect business colleagues, saving them time and money and allowing them to stay ahead of the competition. And they help keep friends and families together, wherever they are in the world.