Founder of file-sharing service Mega, Kim Dotcom has reportedly announced the launch of a ‘fully-encrypted’ video calling and chat service dubbed ‘MegaChat’ to take on Microsoft’s popular VoIP service, Skype.
Kim Dotcom first announced MegaChat in December claiming that it is far more secure than current video chat options online, including Skype. He iterated that the service won’t allow for any government spying or surveillance partly due to the fact that Mega is based in New Zealand.
Initially, users will be able to make both audio and video calls through MegaChat. New features including text and video conferencing will be added to the chat service sometime in the future.
“We are releasing #MegaChat beta step by step. Starting with video calling today. Text chat & video conferencing will follow soon,” Dotcom tweeted.
It is to be noted that unlike many other similar services MegaChat does not require any software beyond a web browser to operate, although plugins for Google’s Chrome and Firefox are available for “faster loading and added resilience against attacks”.
In order to use MegaChat, users will be required to visit Mega.nz, sign up for an account, log in through the browser and click the Conversations icon on the Mega site. From there, they can place calls for free.
“Mega has over 15 million registered users now,” Dotcom tweeted.
“I think MegaChat could elevate us to 100+ million users by the end of 2015.”
