Skype alternative ~ 2008
With Skype we run the risk of repeat the story: a program based on a proprietary protocol and just grabbing the whole market almost solely by the weight that users "prisoners" of a closed system and not can use an alternative client to communicate with them. Can you imagine if the television broadcast protocol SONY outside and keep it secret so that we could only receive the signal using their devices? Well, let ... Better not give them ideas ...
There are alternatives to Skype. Many (just look at this comparison table of wikipedia) and some of them as good or better than Skype itself. In addition, a large majority of these systems uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), an open protocol and formally specified in RFC 3261. This allows them, if the system operator does not place obstacles, interact with each other so that calls can be made between customers of different systems. Here you have some alternatives now that there is still time, we can choose:
EkigaGizmo
Ekiga (formerly known as Gnomemeeting) and Gizmo are, so far, my two favorites. Both use SIP calls can exchange freely between any customer who uses this protocol and are available with full functionality for Linux and Windows (unlike Skype for Linux version of which is old and very limited). Ekiga is free software and has support for video conferencing. Gizmo is not free software (although free, like Skype) but other than that the protocol used if opened my other reason to take this into account is that it has a function similar to SkypeOut to call regular phones around the world . Looking at them over (I have not done a detailed study country to country) Gizmo rates are virtually identical to those of Skype and also no connection charge. If you are also looking for a client to a corporate environment, both interact well with an Asterisk server. Gizmo also has a version for MacOSX: Wengophone.
A third client that combines the advantages of both and more but, I admit, I have yet to sheer laziness. Wengophone called (now QuteCom) and is distributed with GPL license. Use the SIP protocol, supports video conferencing lets you use instant messaging accounts of the most popular protocols (for it is based on Gaim) and allows sending SMS messages and calls to regular phones with a very competitive fee schedule. Does anyone more? The client is available for Linux, Mac OSX and windows or firefox extension for the last two systems (for Linux is announced as in development).
One last note. Gizmo, like Skype, it works perfectly without having to touch anything on the firewall in all environments in which I tested. Ekiga or Wengophone to work all I had to redirect the appropriate ports. The information to do so have it available in their respective wikis support (here and here for Wengophone Ekiga).
UPDATE: Gizmo has been acquired by Google who has discontinued the product
No comments:
Post a Comment