The Pulver vCon Report

The Pulver vCon Report

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The Pulver vCon Report
The Pulver vCon Report
Skype is dead. Here’s why it almost wasn’t born.
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Skype is dead. Here’s why it almost wasn’t born.

A fight for internet freedom created the conditions Skype needed—and the next wave is already here.

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Jeff Pulver
May 12, 2025
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The Pulver vCon Report
The Pulver vCon Report
Skype is dead. Here’s why it almost wasn’t born.
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A headline recently stopped me cold: Skype is dead. Here’s why it almost wasn’t born.

Photo of Jeff Pulver in June 1996 from the New York Times

It brought me back to a different time. A different internet.

I didn’t invent Internet Phone.

The credit goes to the team at VocalTec. They released the first commercial internet telephony software in 1995. That mom…

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