Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Skype Replacement?

[John Sullivan]

Jitsi is the only one that's worked reliably for me for doing video
calls, especially when the person on the other end is not using
GNU/Linux. I use it through my own Asterisk server.

However, Jitsi has a serious problem which is that it only uses a
patented codec -- doesn't support Ogg Theora for example. I also have
some other issues with it -- local video display never works for me, for
example. But my webcam is also a bit flaky so that might not be the
software's fault.

Ekiga should in theory work for video calls, and use Ogg Theora, and I
have had some luck with it when talking to another GNU/Linux user. But
cross-platform attempts have failed.

For just audio calls, at the FSF we tend to use Twinkle. 

GNU Telephony is promising, and people can support it at
https://my.fsf.org/donate/working-together/telephony/.

For all the ideas in this thread, I started a placeholder at
http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Skype_Replacement -- I hope people can
help populate that and organize the way forward. We have those wiki
pages for other High Priority Projects (you can see them in the
category), not sure why we didn't have a Skype one yet. An assessment of
the existing options would be a great start for the page.

-john

-- 
John Sullivan | Executive Director, Free Software Foundation
GPG Key: 61A0963B | http://identi.ca/johnsu01 | http://fsf.org/blogs/RSS

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