March 5th, 2006
Overcoming the Skype 5-User Limit on AMD CPUs
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Maxxuss, who earlier posted a crack to allow MacOS 10.4.5 to run on non-Apple Intel-based PCs, has today announced a patch that eliminates the 5-user Skype limit on AMD CPUs. This was a deal that was announced between Skype and Intel in the middle of last month.
Details on the Patch
The patch is the result of two stages: code analysis and design of the patch. The code analysis, or reverse engineering, reveals the relevant code block, which overrides Skype’s limitation for Intel’s dual-core CPUs. The patch design isolates the minimal set of instructions that need to be modified to cancel this limitation.
Code Analysis
An initial analysis of the executable revealed that the code references the string “You can now add up to 9 people to this call - learn more“”. Source: Maxxuss.com
We Say: On that page, there’s a very detailed analysis of the relevant area of the code, including his conclusions, details on the patch, and more. I’m very pro-AMD as, quite frankly, as a gamer, AMD is the only way to go. While I can understand the reason this deal was made, I have to applaud the effort put in here.
Media Press says:
the Patch is good. Nice article
March 5th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
_leech_ says:
Being an AMD user, this is very nice news indeed. Backdoor financial deals that squeeze out customers isn’t the way to go.
March 5th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
David Johnston says:
I haven’t tested the patch, but wouldn’t it also work for non dual-core Intel users as well?
March 5th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
VoIP Blog says:
Hacker renders Skype-Intel deal null and void
It’s gone! The much-touted exclusive deal between Skype and Intel to provide 10-way conferencing for users with Intel chipsets is in shambles now.
The deal was widely criticized and we also thought that it would make both Skype and Intel…
March 6th, 2006 at 6:34 am
Stephen says:
From reading about the Skype deal (somehow I missed this back in the middle of Feb) its obvious that the only way Intel feels it can compete now with AMD is to cut exclusive deals with software developers and content providers to artificially cripple applications on PC’s running non-Intel processors. This type of shenanigans should really do wonders for the PC market. So much for compatibility.
March 6th, 2006 at 7:15 am
Paul Stamatiou says:
The AMD era is coming to an end with the arrival of Merom and Yonah Core Duo chips capable of extreme overclocks on air cooling. A 2.9GHz Core Duo faired better in SPi 1M than a 6.2GHz 3.46es on vapor and an equivalently oc’d FX-57.
March 6th, 2006 at 11:10 am