Recently a friend pointed out to me a feature of Skype that lets you share your entire computer screen as part of a conversation. And I realized this is one feature completely transforms Skype. Sure, it’s great to be able to look at the person you are talking to, but once you can share your entire screen the possibilities become vastly greater.
It’s important to point out an essential element here — the fact that Skype is free — so there is no barrier to entry, if you have a computer and an internet connection. Which means that if I write a computer program to allow you to see powerful stuff that’s running on my computer, as a way to enhance our communication with each other, and if I give that computer program away for free, then whatever I’ve implemented is immediately available.
The opportunity is there to add new ways for people to communicate with each other — without anyone needing to pay for any of it. This is a kind of techno-wildcard, and it is very exciting. 🙂
Google+ Hangouts have this too as an experimental “extras” feature. I haven’t played with it yet. I wonder if this (via Skype or Google+) would be an effective way to watch a movie or TV show with a friend who is remote. One person brings up the video in a window and then shares it. Presumably you could talk about it too while watching. That would be cool!