Is this the end for Microsoft’s Skype?

Internet search giant Google has released a software, WebRTC (real time chat), which is an open-source app and an answer to Skype’s recent popularity.

Google got a hold on the software when the company acquired Global IP Solutions (GIPS) last year. The company announced that the product can also be used to incorporate audio and video chats into Gmail which will not need a plug-in.

When Microsoft bought Skype last month, Google officials declared that the only reason Microsoft was able to buy it was because Google backed out of the deal. Now the Internet search giant is planning to build a Skype-like chat service for its Chrome browser that will compete with Microsoft.

“Until now, real time communications required the use of proprietary signal processing technology that was mostly delivered through plug-ins and client downloads,” said Serge Lachapelle, Senior Product Manager, Google (Sweden). ”With WebRTC, we are open sourcing the voice and video engine technologies from our acquisition of GIPS, giving developers access to state-of-the-art signal processing technology, under a royalty-free Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) style license. This will allow developers to create voice and video chat applications via simple HTML and JavaScript APIs.”

Google has also promised that the software will not be limited to Chrome only, but will be open-sourced and royalty-free. The company is also in talks with Mozilla Foundation and Opera about including the software with their future versions.

The idea of the new application, however, is similar to other such services and will use JavaScript or Adobe Flash for webcam chat but, unlike others, it won’t need a plug-in, the Google official blog reported.