[liberationtech] Why Skype (real-time) is losing out to WeChat (async)

[Julian Oliver]

..on Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 08:05:00PM +0545, Nathan of Guardian wrote:
> On 12/27/2012 06:29 PM, David Gessel wrote:
> > A minor semantic quibble, but "push-to-talk(1)" is "walkie talkie" mode that typically implies "live," "instant," and "synchronous" communications with the caveat that it is historically half duplex which remains useful in high-noise situations.
> >
> > "Push Voice" would imply push notifications indicating the availability of stored audio files probably containing voice data (voice store and forward (2)).  
> I am definitely talking about Push-to-Talk.
> 
> What is interesting about the shift from VoIP to Push-to-talk is that
> half duplex over TCP (PTT) is insanely easier to implement than full
> duplex over UDP (VoIP).

Excellent point to foreground. Sends me daydreaming about WebRTC and a <talk>
tag:

    https://hacks.mozilla.org/2012/09/full-webrtc-support-is-soon-coming-to-a-web-browser-near-you/

Cheers,

-- 
Julian Oliver
http://julianoliver.com
http://criticalengineering.org