Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

[GreyGeek]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

I just convince my friends and relatives. It's easy when they depend on me for free support.
I don't treat SIP like a phone unless I use it to make phone calls. For VOIP I only turn it on when I am contacted by email and an appointment is made.

[claydoh]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

But who uses Blink or Ekiga? it's bad enough I cannot very easily do voice chat via yahoo or some other service that people (wrongly or rightly) have chosen to be tied to. Am I supposed to convince dozens, maybe hundreds of people switch from their known (and yes comfortable) chat platforms simply because I can't talk to them? I just hope more will move to google chat, and do so much faster.

Just for Me




sorry I ranted a bit, I have been struggling with this issue myself lately.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

Skype took advantage of Linux by installing "Supernodes" on Linux boxes with fast connections and lots of RAM. "Supernodes" were designed to offload sip server traffic from Skypes servers, except that the Windows version of Skype had a setting which could disable "Supernode" formation on that OS. The Linux version of Skype had no such option. To free up your RAM and band width you have to reboot.

Ekiga and Blink doesn't do that.

[kjjjjshab]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

...And trusting Skype and its closed peer-to-peer method IS trustworthy?...

Reminds me of the closed Dropbox fiasco where they first said that they literally had no possible way of reading your data, only to (a couple years later) say, well, with a court order we can read your data...

[claydoh]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

Breaking news that may be an alternative:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...urce_code.html

I don't know who to trust more Microsoft or Google? Either one of them make me a little jumpy when it comes to a good Video chat program. Google already tried that and failed and Microsoft seems to make it more complicated then it was before. So I guess only time will tell on this front!

And trusting Skype and its closed peer-to-peer method IS trustworthy?
Google have released the source code to it, means we can have independent clients to inter-operate with it, and thus windows/mac users. All the other alternatives do not lend themselves well to video chatting with grandma. I for one actually speak to people who don't use Linux!!!!!

[Gamerx]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

Breaking news that may be an alternative:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...urce_code.html

I don't know who to trust more Microsoft or Google? Either one of them make me a little jumpy when it comes to a good Video chat program. Google already tried that and failed and Microsoft seems to make it more complicated then it was before. So I guess only time will tell on this front!

[claydoh]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

Breaking news that may be an alternative:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...urce_code.html

[GreyGeek]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

I agree.

I can't see many Windows users dropping Skype. In fact, because Microsoft now owns it and will probably include it in the copies of Windows the PC OEM installs on their PCs, I suspect that many more than the current 100 million Skype users will end up using Skype.

IF, by chance or a major miracle, Microsoft continues to support and improve a free version of Skype for Linux I suspect that most Linux users of Skype will stay with it.

Personally, though, I see great promise in Blink. It already has dialog space for video and screen sharing, so I suspect that such capabilities will be added to Blink this year. It is already the best VOIP conferencing software available, and I really like the ability to record both sides of the conversation. It is also very fast and doesn't install a daemon being constantly connected to the SIP server. So, there are no lights on the contact list telling you if someone is actively connected to the server or not. Just like a phone, you dial a number or SIP address and if the person answers ...they are there! Did I say it was FAST?

[Qqmike]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

To interject a nontechnical comment (a commercial comment), getting your friends to change is the problem I see. Sure, some computer-savvy friends might be in the mood to experiment. But maybe not so with the average Skype user around the world who managed to somehow get into a "Windows PC" or laptop, turn it on, and just want to use it [Skype] to communicate. But, then, we all know this could become a problem.

Very nice though that you guys jumped in and are generating some practical user data on alternatives.

[Linkmaster]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

GG and myself tested last night, and we determined several things:
If your internet is on the slower side[mine is], Brosix gets pretty choppy and doesn't have very clear sound. The desktop sharing/control works great otherwise though. I personally noticed that Brosix was acting like Skype on my computer, which was horrid. But the interface is nice and clean.

We also determined that Ekiga has extremely sharp video quality and sound quality, though the sound quality doesn't match Blink's sound quality. GG could talk to me with his Blink account to my Ekiga account.

My advice, Ekiga works great for Natty, while Blink doesn't[package interference, Blink needs packages that are too 'old' for Natty]. and Brosix is good for better internet connections, so don't be outside your wireless zone trying to use Brosix.

Last thing we noticed, using both Brosix and Ekiga at the same time resulted in strange things happening with the Ekiga accounts, neither of us could send messages to the other if we had Brosix running, though we could recieve messages fine.

Further testing would probably be good, and if we can convince all our friends to swap from Skype to Ekiga/Brosix, things would be very good.

[Linkmaster]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

Brosix works fine for me, anyone using it add Linkmaster and we'll see if we can reproduce GG's good luck. Tinkering with Ekiga as well, with someone using a Windows computer, and if it works, I'm getting them to check Brosix as well. Depending on which is better, I'll start to get my friends to use it as well. Hopefully, things will get better. Maybe Ekiga will start to work better if all the Skype users flee to it or something

[GreyGeek]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

...
Is there anything that has video/soundchat that can still connect to skype?...

I am not aware of any SIP or VOIP service except Skype which allows connection to Skype's SIP servers. It's protocol is discussed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_protocol

I doubt very seriously if Microsoft would open source or even open up the Skype servers to FOSS VOIP clients. Their new "Microsoft Skype Division" is described here.

[Linkmaster]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

This is totally horrid. I see yet another reason why I need to find somethign that isn't Skype[I'm dependent only because of the other users who use it].

And I do use the screen-sharing thing, its extraordinarly useful..Hm. Is there anything that has video/soundchat that can still connect to skype? Preferably without having a client already running, such as kopete.. anything to use thats preferably opensource that connects with skype? :-/

[GreyGeek]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

di - di -di dah-dah-dah di-di-di


Skype will probably, as I mentioned before, stagnate with its current, free, Linux compatible release. I still have a few dollars of phone credits remaining and will have to use them up before that part of Skype is rendered incompatible with any OS except WinX or Mac.

After searching the free VOIP scene (including the ability to call phones from my PC) I've come to the conclusion that there is no real problem if Skype goes away. For me, once I spend my remaining credits, it will go away.

The three most viable replacements are Blink, Ekiga and Brosix. Blink currently lacks a video + voice connection but it is the best voice conference tool in FOSS, IMO. Blink has made design provisions for both video calling AND screen sharing. The action buttons and setup dialogs are there. All they need to do is add the proper video codecs to their GUI. I have purchased credit for PC to phone service on Blink. Ekiga, having improved considerably since I last tried it a couple years ago, is an excellent replacement for Skype, with the exception of screen sharing. Brosix, although proprietary, allows the free use of its software for personal use, just like Skype. Just like Skype they could drop that favor without a moments notice. But, IF your computer uses Intel video and sound chips, Brosix is an excellent video calling, conferencing, whiteboard, screen sharing AND remote control tool.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Bye Bye Skype for Linux?

Skype has terminated its partnership with Digium, effectively killing Skype for Asterisk, which integrated the VOIP service with the open-source telephony platform.

DOT DOT DOT

Skype may be moving away from Asterisk because Microsoft is expected to launch a Microsoft-hosted version of its Lync unified communications server this summer. Asterisk competes directly with Lync.

DOT DOT DOT

While it may be easy to pin down Skype’s decision as yet another example of Microsoft trying to shut down the open-source community, Tim Panton, a Skype developer, pointed out on his blog that Skype for Asterisk has been dying slowly for a while because of issues with scalability and maintenance. Skype had “hobbled” the product with a number of license restrictions and the company delayed development, according to Panton.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/VOIP-and-Te...#user_comments

woodsmoke