Web site: spik.wp.pl (not active)
Category: Network
Subcategory: Instant Messengers
Platform: Windows
License: Freeware
Interface: GUI
Wikipedia (pl): Spik
First release: October 27, 2005
Spik – an instant messenger of Wirtualna Polska, the successor to wpkontakt. The main sponsor of the work on the development of the program was Telekomunikacja Polska S.A.
The Spik program was discontinued on April 24, 2009. Despite this, the following year it was still considered one of the most popular instant messengers in the country, which is why Wirtualna Polska’s programmers continued to maintain the functionality of the program by providing appropriate corrections, and the last version of the program was released on July 31, 2012.
On May 24, 2013 program users, through a message sent by the system operator and posted on the official website, received information about the discontinuation of Spika’s development and support. The messenger and the server were shut down on June 24, 2013. The role of Wirtualna Polska’s messenger has since been taken over by Gadu-Gadu, with which the portal has established cooperation.
Spik was created on the basis of Skype voice and video call modules, combining the functionalities of the text communication channel taken from WPkontakt, which made it possible to conduct voice calls between computers located behind NAT, and thanks to the optimization of voice coding and transmission, it was possible to talk even with of the order of 2 KB/s in one direction. An additional advantage of the program was the built-in free SMS gateways to national operators (Plus, Orange, Era). In addition to the possibility of video and voice calls, the program’s offer includes the “Neophone” function, which allows you to make calls to landline phones for an additional connection fee. The speech synthesis module was also taken from wpkontakt, so that the sounds of text messages could be read aloud.
In addition to the logo change, Spik also has a simplified interface. The provided information channels served as RSS until April 24, 2009. Spik, unlike wpkontakt, also supports the so-called composing, i.e. notification of whether the interlocutor is entering text in the conversation window. The changed authorization method allows users to use separate passwords to secure their profile and access to the server. Archive handling has been optimized and network issues have been improved.