Skype - history of origin - everything about it. A brief history of Skype: on the tenth anniversary of the revolutionary service Skype appeared in the world

Over the ten years of its existence, Skype, a unique program for free voice communication over the Internet, based on peer-to-peer technology and allowing you not to worry about interception of calls, has turned into one of the many Microsoft services supervised by all self-respecting intelligence agencies in the world. How could this happen? The usual thing is money.

KaZaA

The real story of Skype began in 2000, when two employees of the Swedish telecommunications company Tele2 - Swede Niklas Zennström with an engineering and business education and Danish Janus Friis, who did not even have a completed secondary education - were brought in to work on the entertainment and news portal Everyday.com , the likes of which were just then becoming fashionable. Probably to save money, the management of the Estonian branch of Tele2 placed an advertisement in the local newspaper for the recruitment of qualified programmers with a salary of about $300 per day.

Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.

Three classmates responded to the ad: Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla and Priit Kazesalu. Friends from FIDO, at the end of the Soviet era they founded a small company BlueMoon Interactive and even developed a fairly successful computer game Kosmonaut. In 1989, it became the first Estonian game to be sold abroad, and brought them good money for those times. But by 2000, the company was already on the verge of bankruptcy, so the friends learned the simple basics of PHP in a couple of days and were successfully hired by Tele2. Another Estonian, Toivo Annus, was appointed to lead the Everyday.com development team.

The Everyday.com portal was launched as soon as possible, but turned out to be commercially unsuccessful. Zennström and Friis quit Tele2 and moved to Amsterdam, where they began to think about creating their own business. The wild popularity of the file-sharing service Napster, which had already begun to be pursued in the United States by indignant members of the band Metallica, gave them the idea of ​​​​creating something similar, but in collaboration with representatives of the recording and film industries. An already proven team of Estonian programmers was involved in the development of such a network, and in September 2000 the KaZaA program was born in Tallinn.

Ahti Heinla, Toivo Annus and Jaan Tallinn.

Unlike Napster, whose main problem was the presence of a central server where data about connected computers and accessible files was stored, KaZaA did not require intermediate servers at all. As a result, almost immediately after its appearance, the KaZaA client became the most downloaded program on the Internet.

However, Zennström and Friis failed to reach an agreement with the labels, which viewed KaZaA as just another intermediary of “pirates,” and soon armies of American lawyers began hunting for the newly minted businessmen. The Swedes went on the run from the plaintiffs, constantly changing “appearances and passwords,” and the entire team began intensively encrypting correspondence and regularly getting rid of “compromising” information. At the same time, the Estonian government generally initially rejected the Americans’ request to interrogate the BlueMoon team regarding their disclosure of KaZaA’s trade secrets. Subsequently, however, they were interrogated in the presence of American lawyers, but no charges were brought against the Estonians.

As a result, at the end of 2001, KaZaA was sold to the Australian company Sharman Networks, registered in Vanuatu, and a few years later, already in 2006, Zennström and Friis paid about $100 million from their own funds as part of the settlement of copyright disputes with four major labels - Universal Music , Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music, as well as several others.

Skype: beginning

Meanwhile, the most important part of KaZaA’s intellectual property—patents for the Global Index peer-to-peer technology—remained in the hands of enterprising Swedes: specifically for this purpose, they registered the Joltid company in the offshore zone of the British Virgin Islands, to which all rights were transferred. And they did it just in time, because now the labels could sue Sharman Networks until they were blue in the face, but they could not acquire the rights to the peer-to-peer technology itself and ban its use as patent owners.

As a matter of fact, even then Zennström and Friis had the idea of ​​​​creating an application that could provide voice communication between any computers connected to the Internet, and it would be completely free. The partners had almost ready-made Global Index P2P technology in their hands, only instead of files it had to be configured to transmit digitized voice data.

Of course, an Estonian team of programmers familiar to us joined the project, and the city of Tallinn became the actual headquarters of Skype for a long time. In the spring of 2003, the alpha version of the new application was ready, and it was sent to 20 testers. The name was made up of the words “sky” (“sky”) and “peer” (“equal”, already in the meaning of a “peer” node) and initially looked like “Skyper”, but the domain name skyper.com was taken, so the partners decided to simply discard the last letter.

At first, reviews of Skype were skeptical, primarily due to the mediocre sound quality, but the fact that this application allowed you to communicate for free with people on the other side of the world made you look at it from a completely different perspective. The famous American venture capitalist William Draper decided to invest in the people who made KaZaA, and the millions he invested returned to him a thousand times larger.

The first full-fledged version of Skype was released on August 29, 2003, and the company of the same name was registered in Luxembourg, a country that does not welcome the interference of foreign jurisdictions in the activities of its legal entities. And this was very reasonable, because the “Robin Hoods” of file sharing have now become the worst enemies of all telecommunications companies in the world. On the first day, 10,000 people downloaded Skype.

Skype: the age of eBay

After the experience with KaZaA, Skype was initially created as a product protected from interception: all conversations were necessarily encrypted, and computers connected to the network had to act as server-supernodes to one degree or another. The only central element of the network required is a server containing user accounts and backup copies of their contact lists, containing no other information. Skype easily bypassed firewalls, skillfully masked its traffic, leaked through any available ports and left no trace of its presence on the Internet.

As a result, for some time it became a favorite tool for criminals of all stripes, and with the opening of paid services (for example, calls to SkypeOut phones), they even began to use it for money laundering. It is not surprising that law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies of all countries, as well as representatives of telecommunications companies, bombarded Skype's Luxembourg and London offices with a wide variety of angry demands, which the company's lawyers simply threw in the trash without reading them.

This was possible not only thanks to the Luxembourg “registration” of the company, but also due to the fact that Zennström and Friis now paid the closest attention to the legal support of the business: the experience of KaZaA forced them to make every effort to ensure that the next enterprise was one hundred percent legal. In particular, Skype was never registered as a telecom operator; instead, the firm was considered an “electronic information provider”, like, for example, an enterprise providing email services.

Until 2005, Skype bore little resemblance to a typical high-tech business: price lists for paid services were compiled without relying on any marketing research, staff were recruited based on the results of simple tests, and salaries and even the terms of their payment were not stated anywhere. None of the three Skype offices - in Tallinn, Luxembourg and London - had even signs, and the offices themselves were impossible to find for a random person.

At the same time, the number of lawsuits against Skype was constantly growing, while Yahoo!, AOL, Microsoft and Google announced their intention to open similar services of their own in the near future. In the summer of 2005, Zennström and Friis began negotiations with eBay, and in September it was announced that Skype had been sold to this largest Internet auction for $2.6 billion: this became eBay's most impressive purchase in history. The partners woke up as billionaires, and the Estonian team of programmers received $42 million each. In addition, another 140 people in Tallinn and London had small shares in the company.

It is unlikely that eBay really understood that O they bought it, and most importantly, why. The cultural differences between the company's Estonian and American staff were so great that even corporate parties held in Pärnu shocked the Americans. eBay's hair stood on end when they saw a live telecast of the 2006 Skype party, where Zennström personally poured vodka for everyone, and guests splashed in the pool with their clothes on.

At the same time, Skype brought much less profit than headaches, and in 2009 eBay decided to spin it off into a separate company and put its shares on the stock exchange. And then the former owners Zennström and Friis appeared on the scene again with an offer to buy Skype back. Moreover, they had a well-known argument in their arsenal: all rights to patents still remained the property of the offshore Joltid, and the eBay store used them under license. Meanwhile, eBay managed to sell 65% of Skype shares to the Andreessen Horowitz investment fund, as a result of which Joltid started litigation against two rivals, accusing them of illegally using other people's patents.

The situation was resolved by a settlement agreement with eBay, which ultimately received nothing but a waiver of prosecution by Joltid and licenses for their peer-to-peer technology. And already in 2011, Skype was bought by Microsoft for $8.5 billion.

Skype: the era of Microsoft

The acquisition of Skype was also the largest purchase in history for Microsoft, as well as for eBay. Zennström and Friis received impressive money for the second time for their most successful venture. For now, Skype is still an independent application, which is being developed by the Microsoft Skype division, with offices in Luxembourg, Tartu and Tallinn. But, knowing Microsoft, there is no doubt that in the future this application will become only part of the code of some larger branded product, and the name Skype itself will remain in the past.

And, most importantly, nothing remains of the former secrecy of the negotiations: according to former NSA employee Edward Snowden, US intelligence agencies got behind the scenes of Skype with the help of eBay, and in order to disguise the technical and legal consequences of such actions, a secret Chess project was allegedly developed, about which only a few people at eBay knew. There is no doubt that this collaboration continues in the Microsoft era. In addition, now the communication technology itself has been changed in such a way that it is no longer possible to create supernodes on some individual computers within the network that meet purely technical requirements: all their functions have been transferred to Microsoft servers.

In turn, the user agreement now allows access to transmitted data both from Microsoft itself and from affiliated companies and Internet providers. The intelligence services of several states, including, of course, Russia, have already openly announced the availability of means to control Skype conversations.

Of the entire original Skype team, only one person continues to work on the system - Priit Kazesalu. Annus quit immediately after selling the system to eBay; Tallinn and Heinla lasted a couple more years. All of them are now very wealthy people who invest money in a variety of startups: Tallinn, for example, participates in the Lifeboat Foundation project to “save humanity” and owns the “personalized medical care” company MetaMed. Billionaires Zennström and Friis are enjoying life and are seen in acts of charity.

From Monday March 30, 2020, restrictions on movement around the city will be introduced in the capital. (home self-isolation) for all Moscow residents regardless of age.

The corresponding Decree number 34-UM dated March 29, 2020 was signed by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on March 29, 2020. The new document amends (adds) the previously issued Decree No. 12-UM dated 03/05/2020.

We tell you what can and cannot be done in accordance with the new Decree.

Despite the imposed self-isolation regime, in some cases it is still possible to leave the house. We list these cases below.

In what cases can you leave the house:
* In case of seeking emergency medical care.
* In case of a threat to life or health.
* In the case of going to a place of activity (work), the implementation of which is not prohibited. Previously we wrote about
* To purchase food and goods - go to the nearest store.
* In case of walking pets - at a distance of no more than 100 meters from the place of residence.
* If necessary, take out the garbage to the nearest waste accumulation site.

If you do need to leave the house, you should follow a number of rules.

How to behave on the street, in public places and public transport:
* It is necessary to maintain distance (social distancing), that is, not to approach other citizens at a distance of less than one and a half meters, with the exception of taxi rides.
* Comply with special social distancing markings in areas where they are posted.

The Decree does not apply to:
* for cases of medical provision. help.
* on the activities of law enforcement agencies and other bodies whose actions are aimed at ensuring the safety of citizens.
* for vehicle traffic.
* for citizens who have been issued special passes.
* for cases of arrival and departure from the city.

Until what date will the self-isolation regime for all residents of Moscow, introduced on March 30, 2020, last:

In the published document The end date of the general self-isolation regime is not specified, introduced from March 30, 2020.

This means that the timing of lifting the home self-isolation regime will be announced additionally after the epidemiological situation in Moscow and the region improves and the spread of coronavirus infection begins to decline.

Who invented Skype

Before you hack a bot or how to trick a bot, it’s worth understanding what a “bot” is. In simple terms, a bot is an assistant program that will unquestioningly execute all commands given to it in Telegram. For example, in the morning he can offer a selection of news interesting to the user, and in the evening he can recommend a movie.

To perform data and similar functions, these little assistants use the same interfaces as regular users.

"Language" of bots

Before you start hacking a bot, you first need to know what the client code looks like and what language it uses.

You might think that C# (C Sharp), which is a very popular and modern programming language, was used to write the program. It gained popularity due to the autonomy of the program, great functionality and small amount of RAM.

But this is not so, for the computer version C++ was used, for Android - Java. Also acceptable languages ​​for bots are:

• HTML;
• Python;
• JavaScript.

Payment in Telegram

Telegram is an intermediary in financial transactions. The client sends the necessary data with his credit card specifically to the payment system. Then the response from the payment system and all the necessary information are transmitted to the bot developer, after which he can process and complete the operation.

Here bots greatly simplify buying and selling for both parties. The buyer can purchase any product from the seller from any corner of the world and at any time of the day. And for the seller, auto sales occur, since he does not need to constantly sit in the application and wait for buyers.

However, any disputed payments are the responsibility of the bot developers and payment system providers, since Telegram is not directly involved in financial transactions.

Hack a bot

Most programs that promise to hack a bot operate according to the same system:

1. Download program.
2. Launch the downloaded application.
3. Act.

In most cases, a site that offers and assures that a “crack” can easily bypass the Telegram security system and deceive the bot is malicious, and you absolutely cannot download, let alone run, a downloaded program, for the safety of your device.

Theoretically, such a program can be created completely by studying the encryption protocol and spending a lot of time writing such an algorithm. However, it is impossible to find such a program in open forums.

Telegram sender

In essence, this program is a regular spammer. A group of developers found a small way to bypass the protection and created their own program. The program works easily:

1. Write some text.
2. Payment.
3. Get the result.

Scripts

Scripts in the Telegram application are used to automate any action or create a bot. You can easily download them from the official website of the developers.

You can also use scripts to deceive a bot in Telegram. After all, a bot is a program that works according to a certain algorithm. So, an attacker simply needs to reproduce certain query algorithms, namely certain plugins that specifically generate questions in such a way that the bot allows you to purchase a certain product for free.

It is difficult to imagine the modern world without Skype, but few people know when it appeared. This service allows you to exchange not only text messages, but also make voice and video calls. The year 2003 was marked by innovations that changed the digital world forever. Since its inception, there have been many incremental changes to improve the interface, so a user with basic skills can quickly get used to it.

Historical excursion

Skype has paid and free versions, so everyone will be able to choose the appropriate option. The developers were able to integrate Facebook with the messenger, and this saved more time. It is difficult to come up with a program that could enjoy such enormous popularity, and therefore the history of its creation is important.

First stage

As soon as work in the messenger begins, users often want to get answers to simple questions: “In what year and where was Skype invented?” Estonia is a country where they worked:

• Ahti Heinla;
• Priit Kazesalu;
• Jaan Tallinn.

They were able to create the KaZaA file sharing service, which was very popular in its time. The Scandinavians were the first to not only invent, but also implement the idea of ​​a program that allows you to maintain constant contact with family and friends, no matter where they are. Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom were able to invent Skype, in the form in which it became known to the general public.

Then they came up with a simple but brilliant idea - to provide every user with constant access to the Internet the opportunity for unlimited communication. The date of the first official release is August 29, 2003. Country of residence was no longer of fundamental importance, since it was possible to contact someone in just a few seconds and absolutely free. At some point, the program became not only in demand, but also one of the indispensable ones.

First profit

Without knowing who invented Skype, it is difficult to speculate about their true intentions as developers. The bright and memorable appearance of the messenger did not provide any profit, but efforts should not be in vain. When users were able to make direct calls to regular numbers using reduced prices, the first profits were not long in coming. Belonging to the list of profitable projects is not an easy task, but Skype managed to adequately withstand the competition. Wikipedia writes that after 2 years the company’s capitalization was about $35 million per quarter, and this is where many interesting events begin.

In 2005 largest auctioneBay came to belong to the messenger. It was difficult to predict the final result of such a deal, but everyone felt there was great benefit from it. 2006 was marked by an increase in the company's revenue, which in monetary terms amounted to about 195 million dollars. Who came up with the idea of ​​total improvements in the program is a mystery, but we can talk about an impeccable strategy and plan. Ebay was able to take Skype to the next level by constantly engaging active users.

A short-term coma in the company's development occurs in November 2009, when Ebay decides to sell a controlling stake (70% for $2.5 billion). It is noteworthy that the original founders received seats on the board and 14% of the shares. They no longer claimed more and relieved themselves of legal responsibility.

Together with Microsoft

In 2011yearMicrosoft decided to make a valuable acquisition, exchanging $8.5 billion for a controlling stake in the companySkype. This deal turned out to be unprecedented in terms of the amount of money spent. The board of the company had its own plans, and therefore they painlessly parted with such an amount. The messenger is available in almost all countries, and even Russia, having such a large extent, does not experience problems.

Innovations

Today, Skype can be downloaded on a wide variety of devices and platforms, from Windows to Linux. New markets continue to expand, and this requires a certain mobility of developers.

The messenger was able to surpass the original ideas of the creators, since the original scheme was finalized and improved. Consumers were able to not only make calls to different countries, but also conduct group sessions.

Thanks to Microsoft, the program was able to reveal its true potential and grow beyond simple calls. Each user is given a unique opportunity to exchange information and files in group chats. The creators are probably satisfied with the results of their work.

Communication is one of the main components of our life. The development of technology has pushed hand-written letters into the background, giving the palm to IT tools. The latter includes mobile communications and the Internet. With their help, you can communicate freely while being hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from each other. Now we don’t run to the mailbox - we rush as fast as we can to the computer when the Skype call begins to ring melodiously and loudly.

The leading communication utility

Without exaggeration, we can say that this program is a kind of symbol of freedom on the Internet. Many users of this utility are seriously interested in how Skype was created and who was its founder? There are many opinions on this issue. And most of them are false. Interestingly, many Danes and Swedes say with absolute confidence that the developers of Skype are their compatriots. However, this is not entirely true. This article talks about who actually invented Skype and how this utility gained recognition all over the world.

Estonian roots

Everyone probably knows a small, beautiful European country whose name automatically brings a smile - Estonia. For some reason, the population of the former Soviet Union associates this state exclusively with the slowness and leisureliness of its citizens. Imagine the surprise of many when the fact becomes known that the creation of Skype was the work of Estonian guys. Agree, it is incredible that this country with a slow pace of life is home to one of the fastest programs for communicating on the Internet. This fact contains a seemingly hidden hint at a completely false idea about the temperament and character of Estonians.

Origin and development of the utility

The history of Skype began in 2003. It was then, about 11 years ago, that the Estonian guys Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jan Tallin developed the initial code, which was the foundation of the future program. At that time, they were also working on a utility for exchanging files between Internet users. This program is called KaZaa. Together with Estonian young people, the founders of the described file sharing service worked on this project: Dane Janus Friis and Swede Nicholas Zenstorm. In the process of labor, the not-so-slow guys designed the code, which became the basis for the future interactive program.

In parallel with how Skype was created, programmers studied the requirements and wishes of users of the World Wide Web. It became clear that people no longer have enough of a simple chat. Therefore, the team of creators decided to provide the utility with all possible functions that will facilitate not only written communication, but also video communication, as well as the exchange of various data.

Choosing a name

The initial name for the utility was the expression “Sky peer-to-peer,” which translated means “Across the sky with each other.” The team then decided on the shortened version of "Skyper". However, during the process of registering domains on the World Wide Web, it was discovered that this name was already taken on many resources. As a result, young people “threw away” the last letter “r” from the name and opted for the simple and laconic “Skype”. This name selection process took several months. The final decision was made in April 2003. The result was the successful registration of domains with the names Skype.net and Skype.com.

Full version and growth in popularity

In August of the same year, an official program was made available to the public on the Internet, which had almost all the functionality planned by the developers. The so-called beta version was released online in order to obtain detailed information about errors and malfunctions. While Skype was being created, the programmers decided in the future, to the extent possible, to introduce into their “brainchild” the functions that consumers want to see. It was thanks to the beta version that the developers collected enough information about the tastes and preferences of users, which allowed them to create a fast utility equipped with various modes.

The first full version became available to users in the fall of 2003. It is noteworthy that in a few months the number of users of this program has grown hundreds of thousands of times. A huge number of people thanked those talented programmers who invented Skype.

Advantages of the utility

What attracted users to this program?

For starters, it's free to use. The minimum and necessary set of functions for communication is available completely free of charge. What is noteworthy is that video communication occupies a leading position among them. For many people living hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from each other, this mode is an excellent opportunity to be closer to each other.

The second point is quick registration. In order to become a member of the large “Skype family”, just enter your mailbox address in the field, select a nickname and password. That's all. Now you can enjoy.

This utility also has a convenient and intuitive interface. Thanks to the well-designed toolbar, you can easily switch modes, change tabs and customize the program. The fourth point is a convenient and quick search for an interlocutor. Just go to the “Contacts” tab and click “Add contact”. We enter the name for the search and in the window that appears, select the one we need. A request to be added to your contact list will be sent at the same time.

Of course, the huge advantage of Skype over other communication programs is the presence of a large number of different functions. The first and most common (like all similar and similar utilities) is the ability to send and receive simple text messages. The presence of video calls has made Skype the leading application for contacting distant interlocutors. In addition, using the program you can share various files: send photos, documents, music, videos, etc.

First problem

Two years after the release of the program, the first unpleasant event for the developers occurred. Trying to introduce the Chinese population to the new mobile version of the utility, a team of young programmers received serious resistance from local telecommunications companies. The reason for this was the fear of Asian corporations to lose control over the conquered market segments. Only a few Chinese companies made concessions and agreed to add the SkypeOut application to their mobile phones.

Sales and returns

The rapid growth in popularity attracted the attention of large companies to this program. In 2005, the developers sold their “brainchild”. The buyer was eBay, which offered $2.6 billion for the interactive utility. After some time, the corporation, known throughout the world for its online auctions and the PayPal payment system, paid bonus payments to the program developers, increasing the cost of Skype by 500 million. The history of the creation and modernization of the utility includes one more owner. In 2011, eBay sold the rights to the program back to the developers and their attracted investor, Microsoft. The transaction amount was $8.5 billion.

At the moment, this is the full version of the story about how much the developers still have ahead of them. Programmers face a huge number of plans. We can only look forward to new and more improved versions of the Skype interactive communication program.

Call via the Internet to a regular cell phone or landline phone? Easily. Contact another user on the network by establishing direct audiovisual contact? Even easier! VoIP and softphones are rapidly conquering markets around the world, and at the forefront of this “attack” is a program whose name is familiar to everyone - Skype. That's what we'll talk about today.

Before Skype, or an excursion into history

Many science fiction writers of the 19th and 20th centuries predicted that sooner or later humanity would invent a kind of videophone, thanks to which the interlocutor could not only be heard, but also seen. Some especially gifted individuals (Tesla, for example) started talking about this back at a time when even an ordinary telephone was a novelty.

In fact, humanity managed to invent such a thing sooner rather than later. Judge for yourself: just 15 years ago it was difficult to imagine that very soon we would have at our disposal compact and powerful cell phones, from which we can easily make a video call anywhere in the world (that we can also simply go online, listen to music, read, watch movies, and so on, and there’s nothing to say).

It is worth noting that attempts to invent a videophone as an independent device is a topic worthy of a separate story. For example, back in 1964, AT&T managed to install the first public video telephone booths in New York, Washington and Chicago. Devices bearing the name Picturephone Mod I were also installed with fanfare at the headquarters of large companies. It was planned that the innovation would be a resounding success, and then general recognition would follow. By the way, the devices used 3 pairs of telephone wires: one for audio transmission and two (with a bandwidth of 1 MHz) for video transmission in each direction. The image was updated every 2 seconds. An additional PBX was used for video switching. But the public did not appreciate all these efforts - a call from New York to Washington cost $16 for 3 minutes, and to Chicago - $27, which scared off even the most notorious geeks of that time. As a result, the booths were dismantled in 1968.

However, we digress. Our story today is not about video payphones at all, but about the idea of ​​transmitting voice and image over the Internet, which appeared almost before the invention of computer networks themselves.

As paradoxical as it may sound, until a certain period of time, telephone networks and data networks existed independently of each other. The fact is that the technology and channels of those years simply could not cope with both at the same time. Scientists have been struggling to solve this problem since the 60s, but the first noticeable progress was made only in the 80s, when the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) was created - a network that supported services for transmitting voice, data, video and text. But these were only the first steps, and the real results and the actual “birthday” of Voice over IP (VoIP) and video conferencing came already in the 90s.
The first sign to break the dam of “network silence” was the Internet Phone program, created by the Israelis from the VocalTec company. Internet Phone was released in early 1995 and, in fact, was a banal IM + softphone with which you could make voice calls to other PCs. But what seems banal now, then evoked emotions like “omigod, it's magic!!11”. And this is despite the fact that this miracle worked in half-duplex mode, that is, one-way, as when talking on a walkie-talkie ( which is not surprising - the founders of VocalTec got the idea for the program while serving in the army, looking at packet voice radio).

Neither the above, nor the fact that the quality of communication usually left much to be desired, could stand in the way of progress - in a few weeks, thousands of people downloaded Internet Phone and immediately began to actively use it. This was the go-ahead - it became obvious that the public’s interest was great, and the prospects for Internet telephony were enormous. The market was immediately flooded with all sorts of clones of the Israeli program, and by the end of 1995, DigiPhone software appeared on sale, which allowed you to listen and talk at the same time.

Meanwhile, in the area of ​​software for transmitting video over the Internet, things were also going well. In the early 90s, craftsmen from Cornell University wrote the CU-SeeMe program, originally intended for Macs, and then released for Windows. By the way, it was with the help of CU-SeeMe in 1994 during the flight of NASA's Endeavor shuttle transmitted his image to Earth.

Interest in VoIP technology, that is, in the transmission of a speech signal over the Internet or other IP networks, grew rapidly, and already in 1996, issues of standardization and the adoption of standards became ripe. The International Telecommunication Union, an international organization that sets recommendations in the field of telecommunications and radio, as well as regulating the international use of radio frequencies, adopted recommendations for the H.323 standard, which was based on almost 50 other standards. Thus, the first standard was adopted for multimedia communication using packet-based networks that do not guarantee quality of service. At the same time, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), an open international community of designers, scientists, network operators and providers, which develops Internet protocols and architecture, developed the Realtime Transport Protocol (RTP), which is used in H.323.

Further development of VoIP proceeded as follows:

• 1996 was also marked by the conclusion of an agreement between VocalTec and the giant Dialogic. The goal of their joint project was to create the first specialized telephone gateway for IP telephony, called VocalTec Telephone Gateway (VTG).
• 1997 gave the world the opportunity to make calls not only from PC to PC, but also from PC to phone and vice versa, as well as from phone to phone.
• 1999 was marked by the first specification of the open standard SIP (Session Initiation Protocols), which was developed by the guys from the IETF since 1996, and which will be discussed below. H.323 has a competitor, which, as time will tell, will very quickly deal with its predecessor.

This is how things quietly approached the new millennium, and therefore the creation of Skype.

Skype

Skype is written by European progers, namely Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn. These names may surprise some, because in recent years completely different people have been often called the creators of Skype - Dane Janus Friis and Swede Niklas Zennstrom. The thing is that both the first and second are true.
It is possible that the names of the three Estonian developers not only caused surprise, but also seemed vaguely familiar to some readers. If you showed up, we hasten to please you - you have an excellent memory. The fact is that in the early 2000s, these guys were developing the unforgettable P2P file-sharing network KaZaA, thanks to which they gained fame. The work on Skype, which gentlemen IT journalists unfairly credit to Friis and Zennström, respectively, happened later.

“Who are Zennström and Friis?” - you ask. Of course, it was no coincidence that they also appeared in this story - this couple was directly related to the development and development of both projects (both KaZaA and Skype), and some of their “exploits” literally overshadowed the rest of the team. However, calling them “the creators of Skype” is a gross exaggeration, since these two are primarily businessmen and investors, but not developers. We will tell you more about Friis, Zennström and their role in Skype separately below, but for now let’s return to the program itself.

Active work on Skype began in 2002 after solid investments from the Draper Investment Company, and the software was released quite quickly: the domain names Skype.com and Skype.net were registered in April, and the public saw the first beta release of the program already in August 2003. By the way, a random interesting fact - during development the program was called Skyper (short for “Sky peer-to-peer”), and only closer to the completion of work it was renamed Skype, because the domain name Skyper was already taken.

So, what distinguished Skype from many other similar programs, of which there were a little more released at that time? Unlike other software designed for IP telephony, Skype used and still uses a P2P architecture to operate, which is not at all surprising if you remember the track record of its creators. In fact, this is one of its main advantages: all voice traffic goes through network nodes, which are the users themselves (and the more users use the system, the better it works). Skype can also route calls through the computers of other users, which allows users behind a NAT or firewall to connect to each other (creating an increased load on the channels of other users).

By the time Skype entered the IP telephony market, almost the entire market was occupied by software and hardware operating on the basis of the SIP standard, which it’s time to talk about in more detail.

Unlike Skype's secretive protocol, SIP is completely open to developers, well designed, and easy to implement in hardware. The HTTP message protocol was taken as a model for SIP. SIP messages, like HTTP requests, are transmitted over the Internet in text form, and their formats partially coincide. This greatly simplifies the development and debugging of programs that support SIP, and quite likely contributed to the growth of its popularity. Just like Skype, SIP does not have a centralized server - there are many servers; in fact, anyone can acquire one, and they all interact with each other. The tasks of the protocol include only establishing and coordinating communication, and it is not at all necessary that this communication be voice - it can be any other data stream (video, multimedia, interactive service).

SIP is designed to work in local networks and on good Internet channels.

Skype is the exact opposite of SIP, although some evidence indicates that the Skype protocol is based on a modified SIP. Be that as it may, there are more than enough differences: Skype is a closed protocol, and due to its P2P structure, it uses forced encryption (data is encrypted using AES-256, for the transfer of the key of which, in turn, a 1024-bit RSA key is used Users' public keys are certified by the central Skype server upon login using 1536- or 2048-bit RSA certificates), and it is much better suited to extreme conditions than SIP. The phrase “I’m at the door, and he’s at the window” most accurately reflects Skype’s behavior pattern - close the usual range of UDP protocol ports for it, and it will switch to free TCP ports, and if it’s really pressed, Skype is always ready to use an HTTP proxy. Some experts argue that the only way to completely block Skype is to analyze the contents of all packets that Skype, do not forget, encrypts. The program bypasses simpler methods.

All of the above has been seriously straining the intelligence services of almost all countries of the world for many years - how can it be that something cannot be intercepted and deciphered, this is definitely a mess! However, Switzerland, Australia, Austria, Germany and Russia have already hinted that they still have solutions for listening to Skype in their arsenal.

Skype is also criticized by many security experts, and even hackers. Back in 2007, in the 100th issue of ][ Chris Kaspersky devoted an extensive article to this issue entitled “Skype: The Hidden Threat.” In the article, Chris writes the following: “Skype is a black box with a multi-level encryption system, stuffed with anti-debugging techniques for the executable file, reading confidential information from the computer and transmitting it to the Network via a closed protocol. The latter bypasses firewalls and severely masks its traffic, preventing it from being blocked. All this turns Skype into an ideal carrier of viruses, worms and drones that create their own distributed networks within the Skype network.”

But Skype managed to conquer a wide audience not due to encryption and resourcefulness, but due to two very important things: simplicity and excellent sound quality.

Starting from the very first version, released in the fall of 2003, Skype supported 10 languages ​​and had the simplest possible interface, unlike other IM, which was initially designed specifically for voice communication. It also played a role that the entire procedure for installing the program and registering a new user was many times simpler than that of competitors. As for codecs, Skype uses SVOPC (16 kHz), AMR-WB (16 kHz), G.729 (8 kHz) and G.711 (ILBC and ISAC were also used previously), which provides a sufficient connection speed (30-60 Kbps) /c) allows you to get sound comparable in quality to regular telephone communication.

Having taken off right off the bat in 2003, Skype has not stopped developing for a minute. With each new version, more and more new functions and “conveniences” appeared. It makes no sense to list all these answering machines, online numbers, conferences, services for sending SMS, and so on, since the article is still not called “Skype services for dummies” :). Instead, I would like to note something else - the company was developing confidently, despite the fact that in 2005 Friis and Zennström sold their brainchild, which had already gained enormous popularity (74.7 million accounts and an average of 10.8 million users on the network), eBay for the tidy sum of several billion dead presidents. The fact that this had a negative impact on the development of Skype is clearly demonstrated by numbers and facts:

• Today there are already more than 560 million accounts on Skype;
• There are versions of Skype for almost every platform known to mankind, including mobile;
• The company provides a full range of VoIP services;
• Skype produces and sells various gadgets from headsets and webcams to full-fledged Skype backgrounds - phones that can work with both the regular telephone network and Skype.

We shared an orange, or patent trolling

Now, after covering all sorts of technological aspects of Skype, we can talk about more fun things - for dessert we have the real “scandals, intrigues, investigations”.

As promised, let's return to the personalities of Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and take a closer look at them. Zennström is a graduate of Uppsala University with a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in physics. Friis, on the contrary, cannot boast of a “tower”, since at one time he dropped out of school and went to work in technical support of a local provider.
It so happened that at the very beginning of their life and career path, these two got a job at the Swedish telecommunications company Tele2, where fate brought them together in 1996.

After working side by side for several years, Zennström and Friis got along so well that already in 2000 they decided to quit and start their own business, which became the file-sharing network KaZaA. In fact, to develop it, Friis and Zennström moved to Amsterdam, hired a team of programmers, and chose to remain in management positions.

However, an incident arose with “Kaza” - before the brainchild of Friis and Zennström had time to gain momentum, active persecution began against peer-to-peer networks. Just then the legendary Napster closed, and a holy place, as you know, is never empty - all illegal content flowed to other networks, one of which was KaZaA. Copywriters immediately began to besiege our unfortunate businessmen, wanting to drown them in lawsuits, and the newly minted startups did not like this state of affairs at all. Zennström and Friis were forced to classify the location of the company's offices and literally go on the run, hiding from the subpoenas that poured in as if from a cornucopia.

When it became completely clear that the saying “time heals” does not apply to this situation, and it is only getting worse, it was decided to get rid of KaZaA. A strange deal was carried out, during which KaZaA was transferred to the Australian company Sharman Networks, registered on the Pacific island of Vanuatu. However, something was not included in this deal then, something very important - the rights and patents for the peer-to-peer technology that was used in KaZaA. These rights remained in the hands of Zennström and Friis, or rather their new company Joltid, generally registered in the British Virgin Islands.

You probably already understand that all these details are given here for a reason. The fact is that later it was this technology that was used to create Skype.

By the way, if we talk about the role of Friis and Zennsterm in the creation of Skype, then everything here was already familiar to us - hired programmers (the same Estonians who worked on KaZaA) and two inseparable startupers as the founders of the project. Although, in fairness, it should be noted here that Zennström was loyal to Skype and remained as CEO until 2007, that is, for another two years after the company was sold to eBay.

So, eBay. As mentioned above, in 2005, just two years after its creation, Skype was sold to eBay for a fabulous sum - $ 2.6 billion, plus another 1.5 billion in a few years if Skype's financial performance was good (this was the largest eBay acquisition in the entire history of the auction). Both Friis and Zennström then became billionaires overnight and, it would seem, could calmly enjoy life, start and promote other projects, invest and simply spend those same billions. But it was not there.

Having waited four long years after the deal was completed and managed to launch the startup Joost during this time, the prudent couple decided that they would stop watching the development of Skype from the sidelines. And the development, by the way, was obvious: the number of users grew from 53 to more than 400 million, Skype’s international traffic in 2008 amounted to a record 33 billion minutes, but all this did not bring the desired money to eBay. And since profits from Skype amounted to much more modest amounts than originally planned, in 2009 the largest auction on the planet decided to get rid of the acquisition, declaring that it intended to again spin off Skype into a separate company and put its shares on the stock exchange. This message caused Friis and Zennström to suddenly become active.

Few people initially understood why eBay bought Skype in the first place (the official statements sounded too unconvincing: “for the convenience of communication between auction users”), but only in 2009 did the full comedy of the situation reach the general public. It turned out that by acquiring Skype itself, eBay managed to leave the rights and patents for the ever-memorable key technology in the hands of its previous owners. Yes, yes, Friis and Zennström represented by Joltid. And the owners, having learned about the upcoming listing of Skype on the stock exchange, developed vigorous activity, beginning to return what they sold back. Thus, the New York Times, for example, leaked a rumor that the former owners of Skype had already squandered their billions and were now forced to communicate with private investors, trying to find the missing part of the amount to complete a “reverse” transaction.

Moreover, savvy businessmen immediately fired a “warning shot” - since eBay had been working with Joltid under a license all this time, Friis and Zennström filed a corresponding lawsuit, intending to revoke this license in the UK. To start.

Mutual blackmail and attacks on each other lasted for almost six months. During this time, eBay, as if in response to an offer from Zennström and Friis to buy out their brainchild, managed to sell 65% of Skype shares to a group of investors Andreessen Horowitz for $2 billion. Resourceful businessmen immediately sued again, this time against the new owners of Skype, accusing them of violating patents and demanding $75 million for each day of “illegal” operation of the service. The auction, which Friis and Zennström also did not leave alone (obviously, eBay still had a 35% stake!), filed a countersuit against Joltid in order to prohibit the company from using the technology underlying Skype. Realizing that they would probably not be able to win the case, eBay representatives, just in case, announced their readiness to rewrite Skype from scratch if necessary.

The end of this whole circus came quite recently, in November 2009. Surprisingly, the situation was resolved peacefully. eBay, which had previously categorically refused to pay anything to the ex-owners of Skype, eventually agreed to the deal. Zennström and Friis were not left out in the cold; they not only regained seats on the board of directors, but also snatched a 14% stake in Skype. The whole point of the situation is that they did not have to fork out money - eBay agreed to their terms in exchange for dropping claims and licensing their intellectual property.

We will, of course, never know what Zennström and Friis's original plan was, or whether it even existed. It is quite possible that they imagined “returning to Skype” a little differently, so to speak, in a more rosy light. Perhaps Joltid had the rights up his sleeve for a more opportune occasion, and eBay's decision to get rid of Skype forced things into gear. On the other hand, it may turn out that Friis and Zennström were not planning anything criminal at all, although it is very difficult to believe that the rights to the key technology remained with them “accidentally”, and the Joltid company was opened in an offshore zone by pure chance.

After the above, it would be reasonable to ask the question: “what will happen to Skype next?”, because although the division is over, it cannot be said that everything is going completely cloudless. No, no, they will try to ban the softphone in some country or sue the company (lately telecommunications and cellular operators in a number of countries, including Russia, have been very bad at Skype). However, this is connected not so much with Skype itself, but with VoIP telephony in general - in the latter, OPSoS and Co., due to paranoia, are often seen as a competitor, pest and enemy number one.

Perhaps, regarding the future of Skype, the following can be said for sure: one of the most popular and successful VoIP services, which is used by several hundred million people, cannot just disappear into oblivion, no matter what happens. And if the founding fathers of this software also include two such cunning and persistent types as Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Skype not only will not disappear, but will most likely find better ways to monetize and increase profits.