Lunacy! Sheer lunacy some will say! Specifically, my brother Adam B. will say.
TringMe, a Bangalore-based company that takes advantage of many carriers unlimited data plans (or at least a neighbor’s passwordless wireless access) and lets users use GoogleTalk or other VoIP services directly from a mobile phone for free, is looking to stick it to VoiceXML.
It’s announced the birth of VoicePHP: 12 pounds, healthy, no notable defects, and looks just like its daddy.
VoicePHP is PHP-based voice protocol that seeks to replace the XML-based VoiceXML format. The company describes the language as “the same old PHP which now enables you to create voice applications,” but also cautions that “It’s not an extension to PHP; in fact [sic] it’s the same PHP which now outputs voice instead of text and also takes input as voice instead of text.”
I know what you’re thinking, Speech Heads: Why in blazes would anyone want to abandon VoiceXML just as we seemed to have reached an industry consensus about using it?
Because, if you believe TringMe, XML is misapplied as a programming language for voice. While conceding that XML is a good’un for data storage and transmission it’s programming complex logic is not intuitive and appears “forced” or “hacked” when applied to voice programming. It fails, the company says, to achieve the power of a “real” programming language like C or PHP. Moreover, the development tools/environments for VoiceXML-based applications are limited, reminiscent of proprietary IVR development tools of yesteryear. Old-time. So why not PHP? Most programmers know PHP, right?
But wait a minute, what’s in it for TringMe. Not all that much, if you believe what they say in their “How much does it cost me?” FAQ. While the company says they aren’t looking to necessarily “cash out” on VoicePHP, the thing is powered by TringMe’s platform, Voice 2.0, so, at least ostensibly, if everyone started using VoicePHP overnight the company could be looking at beaucoup bucks. Furthermore, even if VoicePHP never gets off the ground, the Indian startup, unknown to at least me before this little stunt, will have generated a lot more hits and harvested some mindshare.
Methinks the company is probably looking to cash out in on VoicePHP, if indirectly, afterall. Even Tring seems to recognize that publicly. In its cost FAQ, they make rare press release use of a winking emoticon. Coy, coy TringMe.
A lesson Speech Heads: Be wary of any man who calls himself an agnostic technologist.
