No Linux or Mac drivers for Skype phones? What are they thinking?

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 07 November 2007 16:16

Opinion and Analysis

Fortunately, technology has moved on and there is an answer. Forget about looking for a Skype dual phone with Linux drivers. I'm going to donate my crummy Windows only sub-standard dual phone to one of my friends still living under tyranny of Redmond. Then, I'm going out to buy myself a cordless Skype phone that doesn't depend on the operating system I use.

I may get the Philips VOIP841, a DECT phone that bypasses the PC and plugs straight into your WiFi router as well as your phone socket. Or I may disconnect my PSTN telephone service altogether and just get myself a Belkin WiFi phone for Skype. That means of course that I would have to get myself a SkypeIn account so people could call me. Either way, I'm better off because I no longer have to rely on my computer for Skype.

The reviews on both the Philips and Belkin have been very good and other players such as Netgear have also entered the market space of Skype without computers in the past year. Who cares what the operating system is as long as the user can get Skype up and running.

So, the Skype dual phone makers can keep servicing their exclusive Windows market. I know many Linux users who have recently converted from Windows will gripe initially but when it comes down it there's no point crying over not being able to use obsolete technology.

Come to think of it, maybe Skype is simply being astute in not pressing dual phone handset manufacturers on Linux and Mac drivers. Perhaps Skype realizes that the days of shackling its VoIP service to computers makes about as much sense as shackling yourself to a proprietary operating system.