Skype and Starcraft

I tried Skype for the first time yesterday--what a great product!

I confess, I am not an early adopter of technology. I usually wait until things catch on and I can get them for cheap. I did, however, try VOIP when I was in college, and found it to be too laggy and distorted to be useful. I filed it away under "cool ideas that will never be practical." I would rather pay for a good phone conversation than get a messed up one for free.

However, I tried Skype again yesterday--seven or so years after my first experiment with VOIP. They have made some huge progress! There was no lag, the sound was crystal clear, the UI was great, and (best of all) it can run in the background while you play Starcraft without causing the game to lag. The computer headset was $12 at Target.

I gave my friend Aaron Spikes a call on Skype yesterday while we played Starcraft--we were able to talk while we played. This is huge for us because I am a slow typer, so in-game communication between us has previously been strained. This will certainly lead to more battle.net victories. Thank you Skype.