Facebook launches Video Calling feature

Facebook does not stay quite after Google+ release, right now they just announced on the FB official blog the launching of Video Calling service in partnership with Skype. The functionality will be available in all accounts in the coming weeks. Although, from this moment you can start testing it.

You can start using the video calling feature visiting the following link: facebook.com/videocalling

Facebook and Microsoft partnership starts showing how far they can go now that Skype is part of Microsoft.

With 700 million users (and growing) we believe that the only Video Calling network that can truly handle that load is no other than Skype, a peer to peer network that borrows bandwidth to enroute traffic between all the nodes.

Google+ will probably have to grow under control, in batches, so that they can guarantee and adecuate performance on Google+ Hangout, something they realized the night they opened up the invites and then closed them due to “Insane Demand” like Vic Gundotra mentioned last week.

For now Facebook VideoCalling is incompatible with Linux, and the installation on Mac is started of by a Java .jar which in turns installs a browser plugin without the user’s permission, this makes we wonder what the FTC has to say about these type of hidden behavior and how the hell do they do it so that your web browser won’t complain.

On a lighter note, the plugin is not always running, the process dies a few seconds after you’ve finished a call, meaning your internet connection won’t be used without your consent to route Skype traffic unless you are actively on a video call.

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