[PLUG] open source Skype clients?

[Carlos Konstanski]

On Sat, 5 Dec 2009, Robert Citek wrote:

> Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 13:48:00 -0500
> From: Robert Citek <robert.citek at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help;	civil and on-topic"
>     <plug at lists.pdxlinux.org>
> To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help,	civil and on-topic"
>     <plug at lists.pdxlinux.org>
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] open source Skype clients?
> 
> On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 12:51 PM, Larry Brigman <larry.brigman at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 9:29 AM, Robert Citek <robert.citek at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Also, how does one do the equivalent of SkypeIn and SkypeOut with
>>> Ekiga?  Looking on the website, but haven't found anything.
>>
>> SkypeIn and SkypeOut are the method of getting on and off the skype
>> network mostly to landline and mobile phones.
>> When you purchase SkypeIn you get a phone number anyone can call.
>>
>> Why not try to use google talk or a real voip service like sipphone or
>> callcentric.
>
> I didn't realize that Google Talk works on Linux.  A quick check still
> shows that it's Windows-only:
>
> http://www.google.com/talk/
>
> So that's not going to work.
>
> Skype is an service and client software which works with Linux,
> Window, and Mac OS X.  It ain't perfect, in fact, I think it has
> several shortcomings.  But for the core services (VoIP, receive/send
> landline or mobile connections) it works pretty well on all three
> platforms.  I know of no other service that does that.
>
> Skype takes a just a few clicks to install on Windows and OS X.  And
> Skype on Ubuntu takes about as long once you setup the Medibuntu
> repository:
>
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Skype
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
>
> I'd be more than happy to switch to Ekiga or other Open Source package
> and service if I could get the same functionality as I do from Skype.
> Or if there was a way for Ekiga to talk to Skype.  Is there?  Seems
> like what's needed is the VoIP equivalent of Pidgin.
>
> Regards,
> - Robert

You are getting to the meat of the matter. Ekiga (or any
standards-compliant softphone) cannot interact with skype because
skype uses a completely different, proprietary, closed source
protocol. That is the issue in a nutshell. It's exactly the sort of
thing that an open source champion should fight against by eschewing
it in favor of an H323 solution. So what if it's more work? It's a
one-time effort, and it'll make you more knowledgeable. Besides, it's
only more work if you want to communicate with ordinary phones. It is
very easy to make SIP-to-SIP calls.

Ekiga is the VoIP equivalent of pidgin. Both are gnome utilities.

Making direct SIP-to-SIP calls using ekiga or any other standard SIP
client is free and very easy to set up. If ekiga doesn't install
easily on windows, use a different softphone. Several of them are java
applications. They should be very easy to get going, even easier than
skype. There is no installation - just download and launch. SIP
Communicator is one such java softphone.

With open sorce, you can position yourself anywhere along the
convenience/functionality spectrum. You just can't call someone who
insists on using skype. Hopefully I have managed to dispel the myth
that skype is the only softphone that the average person can
handle. That is what "they" want you to believe, but it is
crap. They'd love it even more if you ditched linux in favor of
windows just so you could run skype. (I have never been able to get a
webcam to work with linux skype, while the same webcam/computer combo
works with ekiga.) There is no reason not to get Mom, Granny, et al to
grab a second softphone so you don't have to pucker up and plant a wet
one on skype's fat ass. Just send Mom this link:

http://download.sip-communicator.org/alpha2/generic/sip-communicator-1.0-alpha2.jar

Carlos