Internet telecoms company Skype has today announced new versions of their popular communications client for Linux and Mac OS X. The clients of a similar feature list to the Windows version.
"We encourage all Mac OS X and Linux users to experience the cost and quality gains with version 1.0 Skype software," said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder. "We thank all those who downloaded the beta products as we were developing; your support has been fantastic. We will remain committed to innovation and will continue to expand platform choice."
Skype"s free internet phone service has seen tremendous growth over the last year and has traditional carriers worried. The company has approximately 23 million registered users and reportedly has as many as 130,000 new users each day. However, for the company to take Skype truly mainstream, the service needs to offer standard phone line to VOIP functionality; Skype currently only offer this service in reverse.
Skype, made by the creators of Kazaa, was launched in August 2003 and works on a similar principle to the file sharing program. The software encrypts calls and routes them over the web via the fastest path. Since November, the software has been bundled with Kazaa giving Skype a large boost in it"s install base.