Here's my question - I'm hoping some knowledgeable slashdotter with some IP nouse can clear up my confusion. Are there any technical, or any legal reasons, why a 3rd party app cannot simply wrap Skype, at least for voice calls (leave video aside for now). Lots of 3rd party apps present as printers to the OS, and when you print to that virtual printer, they create an eps file or a PDF file or whatever.... Why is it hard for a 3rd party app, similarly, to present as a headset (mic + speakers) to the OS, allowing the user to run Skype as well as the 3rd part VOIP app, and select that headset in the Skype audio options. You could then run your 3rd party VOIP solution, and have Skype set up to start in the background. calls in either direction to others on Skype could be handled transparently in the 3rd party VOIP app, and that would give users the chance to gradually get their network of friends and family swapped over to open, standards compliant VOIP solutions, without having to give up on contact with those running Skype (face it, that's everyone), or switch between 2 apps for calls (I understand the API already exposes things like accept call...) If this is a viable way to overcome the powerful networking externailities that Skype now has working in its favour as a barrier to new entrants, has it not been done because of a)legal b)technical c)marketing or d)other issues?

OK, so I'm on Ubuntu for media player/lounge computer, and family has standardised on Android phones, BUT, I work from home, and I work on a PC. Sometimes I also use an old XP instance in a VM on my Ubuntu box. 1. I need to remote in to a server, and the Ubuntu citrix solutions are not acceptable (poor dual screen support for a start) 2. I do serious document processin using CMS systems. Windows required again - Open Office? lol. 3. For work I need to use Microsoft Exchange, and Outlook to book resources/meetings. I sync, but really, I need to use native Outlook to just get shit done. 4. Dragon Naturally speaking saves my wrists from a helluva lot of punishment. Nothing remotely as functional for speech-to-text in the FOSS world. 5. My bank's website still doesn't really work right with anything other than Internet Explorer (and not IE9 either) 6. For work I need to use Skype as my VOIP client. Skype on Ubuntu is OK, but features like group video and "share my screen" don't work. 7. Support calls to your ISP for things that are their problem (like "you need to check the copper wire down my street, seriously") go faster if you start by logging in with Win7/IE8, rather than Kubuntu and some homebrew Firefox fork. You could sum it all up in 2 words. "Network Effect" - http://goo.gl/jQPtc

Best Solution IMHO: Madcap Flare: http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/flare/home. aspx Native XML, publishes to all formats that matter (including Microsoft Word), good learning curve, totally future-proof. One month free trial to get you started. Personally, I would do everything in my power to sell my boss on this product.

Probably second best: AuthorIT http://www.authorit.com/ clunky interface, steeper learning curve, but a bit cheaper, and does everything you'll need , most of it very well (again, publishes to all formats that matter).

The real advantage of these products is their "single sourcing" capability - i.e. with only a little effort invested upfront, they allow you write your content once, then publish it to Word, PDF, HTML etc very quickly and easily, and allow you vary which bits of content go into which formats too.

Good luck :)