Skype To Provide Open-Source Linux Client

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Skype To Provide Open-Source Linux Client

The very popular Skype VoIP service has provided a Linux client for some years now, but it's not nearly as full-featured as its Windows counterpart, and right now it's a binary-only application. However, things may be partially changing at this company that's in the process of being spun off from eBay...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NzY2Mw

[yoshi314]

seems like suspicions were confirmed in the comments on skype blog.

still, if the protocol will be closed source, that means that either the opensource client will link against some blob library, or will be just an skype api client, which will require current skype version running in the background.

[bugmenot]

That happens if they are scared. They see that there is pretty well working VOIP with audio and video over jabber for example. With this generation of distribution the stuff is really usable without compiling and for the great masses. It's the only choice Skype has.

I will not use Skype as long as the client and the protocol is not 100% open source. And not only open source, we must be allowed to use it with out own implementations if we want.


But this will not happen, so I hope that empathy and the general voip solutions on linux will become even better.

[butdie]

I was not happy about their high bandwidth usage not for your own messages, not to mention the proprietary protocol underneath.

Their paid services could be even worse, I once had to call paypal customer service to get my money back, and I deleted skype from all my computers after that incident. Of course, I was among many who feel being cheated by skype.

If ebay can get rid of skype, I will have more confidence on my ebay account. I was considering to close all my ebay/paypal accounts, after found the cheating from skype.

[droidhacker]

I don't think I do or will ever have any confidence in any ebay/paypal/skype nonsense. Paypal doesn't have any respect for their own agreements -- I've had to go through my CREDIT CARD to get a refund out of a paypal/ebay scam.

As for this skype nonsense.... if the protocol isn't open, what's the point? The ONLY reason for open source skype is the protocol itself. We can make the UI stuff easy.

[d2kx]

At least it will be possible for other clients to use the Skype protocol if they wish.

[kernelOfTruth]

today everything that has opensource in its name is hip and people will "buy it" (except, of course, the opensource purists/evangelists )

with this step they're (hopefully) fixing a lot of problems with pulseaudio, 32bit/64bit versions, etc. provided of course that their protocol (like already confirmed) is the only closed-source part

this will allow them to "let" the community add missing features and hence keeping skype competitive

what would be the sense in open-sourcing their protocol (for them) ?

that way other companies could create business model "forks" ...

[L33F3R]

I don't think I do or will ever have any confidence in any ebay/paypal/skype nonsense. Paypal doesn't have any respect for their own agreements -- I've had to go through my CREDIT CARD to get a refund out of a paypal/ebay scam.

lol ebay and paypal are god awful for sellers. By the time u pay the fees your profit margins are limited.

On the flipside, people like you who chargeback, also make paypal dirty ground for sellers.



the skype UI in linux sucks. Maybe now we can get something decent.

[Chewi]

Well I'm happy about this. I currently have Skype working together with Asterisk (using SipToSis as a SIP extension) and Pidgin (using skype4pidgin as a replacement GUI). Both work pretty well but I still have to run the real Skype in the background. Even if there is a binary blob, this will mean that I may not have to run a separate client in future.

At the same time, I will say that I'm not a huge fan of the proprietary protocol and I do primarily use a SIP service (sipgate) but adding Asterisk to the mix gives me the best of both worlds.

[Apopas]

Meh. It's the protocol that it matters. Something as inherent as communication MUST be deeply opensource, not just the buttons. They can take their opensource client and put it where they know.