Have you met my new best friend?

How a little piece of software called Skype brought my friends and family closer together.

Technically savvy I’m not, but I am also no slouch when it comes to matters of the PC. I must admit, however, that I’ve been living in the dark ages. I’ve sworn by MSN and even Facebook Chat but I’ve got a new best friend now and his name is real cool — Skype. I know, I know, many of you have already met him but I’ve just gotten acquainted. Even Grandma met him before I did. He never complains, is lots of fun, can communicate effectively, is free and easy to use. What more could you ask for in a friend?

Skype’s reputation had preceded him. I had heard of him before but I had heard he was unreliable and inconsistent. But he proved to be none of those things.

My friend Skype is downloadable. I met him online after suffering for months, even years, either not being able to communicate with family and friends, or overcommunicating with friends — much to the chagrin of my bank account. So at the insistence of a few friends and well meaning relatives I downloaded the necessary software and got started.

Skype allows you to communicate via the computer anywhere in the world with anyone else who is also registered with Skype. You can chat via instant messaging or via webcam. And the best thing of all, it costs you nothing, besides the purchase of a webcam.

Now for the equipment. My existing Logitech 4000 webcam with built in microphone would do nicely — it was as easy as plugging and playing. I am not kidding! A few adjustments to the settings and I was ready to go. Seemingly.

Once I downloaded the software and set up my new account, I needed to search for people I knew. Not knowing their “Skype name” I searched for at least 30 minutes before I found who I was looking for. Once I found my contact I initiated a call. My girlfriend picked up. I could hear her but not see her, she could see me but not hear me. Boy had we gotten our signals crossed! So, for the next 45 minutes we studied the manual and checked all the pull down menus to see where we had gone wrong. Seems it was very simple: she needed to accept my call in video mode and I needed to deselect the mute button. Et voila! We could see each other in vivid colour and hear each other perfect pitch. She could see my daughter and son for the first time in over a year. And we were all very excited!

My daughter stared into the monitor, trying to figure out how Auntie Heather got in there. Where is her voice coming from? My kids were asking for her kids — they were all born at roughly the same time — but they were an hour ahead of us so her kids were already asleep. It was very exciting.

We’ve set another appointment for this evening so everyone can get reacquainted.

Once our call was complete, I dialed Grandma. No answer. It was getting late, so we’ll save her for another day!

Alas, I begin my new relationship with Skype and I feel it will be long term. I am enamoured by all his functionality. I can’t wait to set up conference calls with my childhood friends who seem to be scattered all over the globe.

What’s great about this technology is that a whole new generation will be able to “reach out and touch” their friends!
Visit Skype.com for more information and to download your new best friend.