TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

As people warm up to the idea of VoIP, they often look for ways to make it easier to use for themselves. Having VoIP service on a computer is one thing, but being able to pick up an actual phone that didn't cost you a fortune and make a call using VoIP service is another. There have been a scant few products aimed at this market, though this year there have been more than ever. MSI is introducing new motherboards that'll have built in phone adapters for use with Skype. The idea is to make a motherboard with a simple standard phone interface, allowing the phone to easily use traditional phone service or VoIP service:

Select MSI’s mainboards based on Intel P35 core-logic come with a built-in SkyTel module card paired with Realtek’s ALC880T HD audio codec to enable a standard telephone to be connected to the PC, according to a news-story at DigiTimes web-site. This can be used for Skype calls as well as traditional telephone calls. The traditional phone can still operate while the system is shut off.
As the article brings out, similar devices exist in the market. This is one of a very few motherboards, however, that'll have such a feature, and could be an indication of something that may come stock on consumer-level boards in the future.