Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Windows Defender is the new name for Microsoft AntiSpyware.  Whatever the name, this is a great little utility.  It’s been available as a free download on the Microsoft site for some time.  I installed it on all the PC’s in the house, and the incidence of spyware has dropped to pretty much zero, even with the kids downloading games all the time. 

From Good Morning Silicon Valley:

 "I’m having difficulty seeing another network operator buying Vonage," Maribel Lopez, an analyst with Forrester Research, told Barrons. "It’s easy to replicate. It’s not a service that has incredible barriers to entry. It’s risky to assume Vonage will go up against Comcast and Verizon and other low-priced providers like SunRocket and make a significant business out of it. At the end of the day, it’s an incredibly challenging business model."

Anybody can build a VoIP carrier these days, for a very very low investment.  Go get yourself a used gateway (search for Cisco AS5300 on Ebay), hook up with a managed services provider like Telic.net, and you’re in business.  Total cash outlay is probably under $20,000.

The real excitement around VoIP will be the new generation of services that will be enabled by such a low cost entry.  The innovation unleashed when PC’s hit the market was due to the fact that low cost platforms enabled anyone to write software.  We are on the verge of the same phenomenon with voice.  Welcome to the world of Voice 2.0!

Here’s an interesting post from the IMS Insider.  It’s excerpts from interviews with a couple of carriers marketing departments on IMS.  Net net: the marketing departments don’t see a need for next generation multimedia communications.