Publisher's Note: VoIP Going Mainstream

(sponsor: Lok Technology) In the previous column Dan wrote about how even most technologists don't care about VoIP beyond that it is another way to make a phone call. And he suggests that the successful strategy for VoIP companies is to just tell people that its a phone service.

I just received an email from Jeff Pulver, promoting the Spring 2005 VON. He opens the letter with:

After spending last week at CES, my take away was that VoIP has gone mainstream. This was evident on both the CES show floor and by those who joined us at our first Consumer VoIP Summit. My experience at CES only increases my excitement for Spring 2005 VON taking place March 7-10th in San Jose, which is shaping up to be our biggest VON ever.

It might be that Jeff is right in a way that he isn't expecting -- there might never again be a VON as big as the one about to happen in San Jose.

If Jeff is right and VoIP has gone mainstream, why will there be a show specifically about VoIP? In the early 90s I was an advocate for object-oriented software development. I spoke at conferences like ObjectWorld, I wrote for magazines like Object Magazine. None exist today. Object oriented development just became the way that ALL development was done. I expect that we will see the same with VoIP -- ALL phones will be VoIP.