Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 09/28/2010 11:04 PM, Brad Knowles wrote: Facetime on the iPhone is the most trivially simple piece of software to configure -- Apple has already done all the hard work for you. You are probably right, but an Apple-only solution won't cut it in the real world. I wish you were right about your claims of FaceTime being a completely open protocol. I am skeptical. According to this article, it appears that FaceTime is entirely dependent on Apple's proprietary push service (which appears to be a proprietary implementation of XMPP,) instead of the XMPP-JINGLE open standard, for invoking the SIP session. http://www.packetstan.com/2010/07/special-look-face-time-part-1.html Based on this analysis we can determine several critical pieces of how Facetime works: * Unknown TCP protocol starts the conversation, likely initiated following an event that starts on the GSM network; * Unknown UDP traffic between two hosts with similar IP addresses; * Certificate validation through an Akamai server, followed by an HTTPS request to an Apple server; * STUN traffic for NAT traversal; * SIP traffic for call setup and negotiation; * UDP stream data for video/audio. FaceTime may indeed be more open than Skype. But if it cannot exist without Apple, it is not actually open. Jesse smime.p7s Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On Sep 29, 2010, at 9:28 AM, Jesse Thompson wrote: You are probably right, but an Apple-only solution won't cut it in the real world. I wish you were right about your claims of FaceTime being a completely open protocol. I am skeptical. All I can tell you is that Apple has said that they are committed to making Facetime a true open standard. Whether or not they actually deliver on this promise is something that only time will tell. Certainly, what we know about Facetime so far is that it is largely built on existing open standards, and even if Apple didn't deliver on their promise, I would hope that it wouldn't be too hard to create a real open standard that delivers the same functionality. At that point, Apple would be forced to choose whether to continue with their proprietary implementation or support the open standard. Since part of the purpose of Facetime (and Apple's claim to be committed to turning it into a true open standard) is that it would give them a really strong weapon to use in their fight against the Microsoft/Google/Skype Hegemony, I think Apple's choice in this matter is pretty clear. But the only thing we can be certain of is that time will tell. -- Brad Knowles b...@shub-internet.org LinkedIn Profile: http://tinyurl.com/y8kpxu ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 9/29/10 00:04 , Brad Knowles wrote: My experience with Skype for audio chat is that it's actually not that good For what it's worth, I listen to a lot of podcasts where one or more parties are Skyped in... and they're constantly having problems with audio quality, dropouts, dropped connections (and occasional inability to reconnect), etc. Doesn't inspire much in the way of confidence. - -- brandon s. allbery [linux,solaris,freebsd,perl] allb...@kf8nh.com system administrator [openafs,heimdal,too many hats] allb...@ece.cmu.edu electrical and computer engineering, carnegie mellon university KF8NH -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v2.0.10 (Darwin) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkyjf7QACgkQIn7hlCsL25Xe8wCcCCpBaBPKoohn8VGBlePbBkRn eZ8AnjemeFH/67aK3gTdMy1mTCNLaDmk =9fBU -END PGP SIGNATURE- ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 09/29/2010 11:43 AM, Brad Knowles wrote: Since part of the purpose of Facetime (and Apple's claim to be committed to turning it into a true open standard) is that it would give them a really strong weapon to use in their fight against the Microsoft/Google/Skype Hegemony, I think Apple's choice in this matter is pretty clear. I wouldn't say that there is a single hegemony. Each company is trying to make their own hegemony. Apple included (as underscored by their choice to abandon JINGLE in favor of system that puts Apple in complete control.) Except for Google, who's dominance plan appears to involve offering a superior user experience instead of controlling the competition. I'm wary of Google, but they actually have delivered a solution that works. I can make a voice call to the gmail web client from Pidgin on my Linux computer while logged in to my local XMPP service. And, I can make calls to other users on any federated XMPP service. I can do that today. Jesse smime.p7s Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 10-09-29 12:09 PM, Jesse Thompson wrote: On 09/29/2010 11:43 AM, Brad Knowles wrote: Since part of the purpose of Facetime (and Apple's claim to be committed to turning it into a true open standard) is that it would give them a really strong weapon to use in their fight against the Microsoft/Google/Skype Hegemony, I think Apple's choice in this matter is pretty clear. I wouldn't say that there is a single hegemony. Each company is trying to make their own hegemony. Apple included (as underscored by their choice to abandon JINGLE in favor of system that puts Apple in complete control.) Except for Google, who's dominance plan appears to involve offering a superior user experience instead of controlling the competition. I'm wary of Google, but they actually have delivered a solution that works. I can make a voice call to the gmail web client from Pidgin on my Linux computer while logged in to my local XMPP service. And, I can make calls to other users on any federated XMPP service. I can do that today. I agree with you about google, they did it right in the sense that they created a client which offers better quality than most, but stuck to standard protocols AND accept federation (I still don't understand why facebook refuses to federate, while using completely standard protocols). On the other hand, as much as I am not a fan of Apple, they have open up a lot of their technologies, look at CUPS and calendarserver. Maybe they moved away from jingle for a technical reason... -- Yves. http://www.SollerS.ca/ http://images.SollerS.ca/ xmpp:y...@zioup.com ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 09/24/2010 07:14 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote: From: tech-boun...@lopsa.org [mailto:tech-boun...@lopsa.org] On Behalf Of Jesse Thompson traffic. The actual voice/video capabilities depend on the client or device. e.g. Psi and Pidgin now have rudamentary p2p voice capabilities. No client compares to Skype that I'm aware of. Oh dear. You haven't used iChat. It's enormously better than skype as a client. Only problem is the fact that it's Mac only. and that's a big problem. If the majority of your users can't run it, then it can immediately be ruled out. If you are an Apple shop, then iChat is an option. It can use XMPP for presence management and IM, and Bonjour/RendezVous/zeroconf to set up the voice/video connection. I don't know of any other clients that work with iChat. Oh. I guess you have used iChat. ;-) I'm speaking from my ass. I haven't actually used it for video or voice chat. I'm basing its potential viability on what others have told me. I don't see much of a point in evaluating it since, even on a college campus, the OSX requirement is impossible to overcome. Jesse smime.p7s Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 09/25/2010 01:49 AM, Brad Knowles wrote: On Sep 24, 2010, at 7:19 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote: I really wish iChat were available in Windows/Linux. But that's not the apple way. Facetime is the new standard, and I think it's actually pretty close to where these things will be. You will see Facetime integration into iChat, and I'm sure that there will be other implementations as well. Is there any indication that there will be non-Apple Facetime clients? If not, then I think that Facetime will remain a niche application like iChat. Jesse smime.p7s Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 9/28/10 9:08 AM, Jesse Thompson wrote: On 09/24/2010 07:14 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote: From: tech-boun...@lopsa.org [mailto:tech-boun...@lopsa.org] On Behalf Of Jesse Thompson traffic. The actual voice/video capabilities depend on the client or device. e.g. Psi and Pidgin now have rudamentary p2p voice capabilities. No client compares to Skype that I'm aware of. Oh dear. You haven't used iChat. It's enormously better than skype as a client. Only problem is the fact that it's Mac only. and that's a big problem. If the majority of your users can't run it, then it can immediately be ruled out. [I know I'm jumping in late and there has been plenty of discussion already. I have just one point/distinction.] On the other hand, a client is only a client. Any individual should be able to use whatever client works best for them on their platform as long as it interacts with others. I routinely use iChat to interact with a hardcore opensource guy who insists on using Jabber with whatever the opensource thing is that he uses as a client. The only problem I have is that his client drops connections somewhat frequently. I also connect over AOL with iChat to people who are on PC's, smart phones (that are not iPhones), etc. My son uses skype and can connect with me when I'm using iChat. I can also text a dumb phone by supplying the fully qualified phone number and going through AOL. So, the question is really about choosing a means of interacting that is supported by a sufficient spectrum of clients. Or for an individual to choose a client that is sufficiently broad to connect with whatever means of interacting you settle on. So far, iChat has done everything I've wanted to do and then some. My daughter has had smores parties (heated over a candle on her desk) and pajama movie parties with a friend who lives 2000 miles away, connecting from iChat with an iSight to whatever the friend was using on her PC. They could giggle together and talk while watching the same movie. Assuming that everyone has to use the same client comes a bit too close to the financial web sites that insist you have to be using IE and then program stuff directly to IE so that indeed I have to. But I can't. Microsoft has not supported IE on Mac for many years and has never supported it for Mac OS X. So, I'm stuck using the kiosk at my Bank if/when I absolutely have to. But that's not at all what internet banking is supposed to be. It sucks. -- --- Chris Hoogendyk - O__ Systems Administrator c/ /'_ --- Biology Geology Departments (*) \(*) -- 140 Morrill Science Center ~~ - University of Massachusetts, Amherst hoogen...@bio.umass.edu --- Erdös 4 ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 9/28/2010 7:42 AM, Chris Hoogendyk wrote: Assuming that everyone has to use the same client comes a bit too close to the financial web sites that insist you have to be using IE and then program stuff directly to IE so that indeed I have to. But I can't. Microsoft has not supported IE on Mac for many years and has never supported it for Mac OS X. So, I'm stuck using the kiosk at my Bank if/when I absolutely have to. But that's not at all what internet banking is supposed to be. It sucks. It's early, I haven't had enough coffee yet, and normally I'd keep quiet, but... I would suggest that you need to switch banks. For a while I had three of them that I was accessing for one reason or another, and Firefox worked just fine with them all. I have had a banking relationship with a bank that seemed to want only IE, and I walked over that issue alone (a few years ago). There's simply ALWAYS another bank. -- The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and a seal. Mark Twain ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 09/28/2010 09:42 AM, Chris Hoogendyk wrote: On 9/28/10 9:08 AM, Jesse Thompson wrote: On 09/24/2010 07:14 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote: From: tech-boun...@lopsa.org [mailto:tech-boun...@lopsa.org] On Behalf Of Jesse Thompson traffic. The actual voice/video capabilities depend on the client or device. e.g. Psi and Pidgin now have rudamentary p2p voice capabilities. No client compares to Skype that I'm aware of. Oh dear. You haven't used iChat. It's enormously better than skype as a client. Only problem is the fact that it's Mac only. and that's a big problem. If the majority of your users can't run it, then it can immediately be ruled out. [I know I'm jumping in late and there has been plenty of discussion already. I have just one point/distinction.] On the other hand, a client is only a client. Any individual should be able to use whatever client works best for them on their platform as long as it interacts with others. I routinely use iChat to interact with a hardcore opensource guy who insists on using Jabber with whatever the opensource thing is that he uses as a client. The only problem I have is that his client drops connections somewhat frequently. Right, but we were talking about voice/video chat. Assuming that everyone has to use the same client comes a bit too close to the financial web sites that insist you have to be using IE and then program stuff directly to IE so that indeed I have to. But I can't. Microsoft has not supported IE on Mac for many years and has never supported it for Mac OS X. So, I'm stuck using the kiosk at my Bank if/when I absolutely have to. But that's not at all what internet banking is supposed to be. It sucks. At least you have the option of installing a Windows VM on your Mac. Jesse smime.p7s Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 09/28/2010 10:36 AM, Chris Hoogendyk wrote: On 9/28/10 10:51 AM, Jesse Thompson wrote: Right, but we were talking about voice/video chat. Right. Which was referred to in the other examples in my message, which included connections between skype and iChat as well as voice/video between whatever someone was running on their PC and iChat. The overall point was the flexibility of iChat to interact with different servers and clients. Are you saying that iChat works with Skype voice/video? Or are you saying that iChat supports multiple IM protocols like Pidgin and the other multi-protocol clients? At least you have the option of installing a Windows VM on your Mac. Bad option. Then I have the added cost of paying $$ to Microsoft for the use of their OS and for future updates when I really don't want anything to do with it. An ordinary mompop household would have to pay a consultant to do the install and configuration as well. No point in getting into platform wars here. It is sufficient to say that I do not personally want anything to do with Microsoft. Your choices may vary, and that is alright. I didn't say it was a *good* option, but at least you have it. Conversely, you can't install an OSX VM on a Windows or Linux desktop (unless you are willing to shell out $$$ to Apple for the hardware,) so you can't use that as a workaround for using iChat as your Skype alternative. Jesse smime.p7s Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On Sep 28, 2010, at 9:48 PM, Yves Dorfsman wrote: -my understanding is that skype is three things: -a very good client -a very good proprietary protocol (as in, better than the standard one) I'm not convinced of that. In fact, I would submit that a good enough standard protocol is far better than a better proprietary protocol. Maybe if the better proprietary protocol is literally more than one order of magnitude better, then maybe it would be time to create a new standard protocol that does many of the same things. -they pool network connections to get more bandwidth Again, I'm not convinced that this is a good thing. At least, for many clients/sites I think that this would definitely be a bad thing. I don't know of any standard protocol which steals^H^H^H^H^H^H use your neighbour's bandwidth to improve your connection, so unless facetime does something tricky like this, or also use a proprietary protocol (in addition to the standard ones) that's even better than skype's, I wonder how they can be that much better. Again, I think I disagree with your definition of better. -- Brad Knowles b...@shub-internet.org LinkedIn Profile: http://tinyurl.com/y8kpxu ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
Again, I think I disagree with your definition of better. I used better as in better quality, answering to the argument that facetime was more shiny shiny than skype. -- Yves. http://www.SollerS.ca/ http://images.SollerS.ca/ xmpp:y...@zioup.com ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On Sep 28, 2010, at 9:48 PM, Yves Dorfsman wrote: background: I have never used skype nor facetime. Whereas I use Skype on a daily basis for text chat (including one-on-one and group multi-chat), and I've used it for both audio chat (group) and video chat (one-on-one). I've also used Skype on portable devices, like the iPhone. If I read this right, chances are that factime is just a very good client to standard protocols (and yes some libraries will do a better job at encoding/decoding H264), which would mean that: My experience with Skype for audio chat is that it's actually not that good -- lots of drop-outs, people getting dropped entirely from the chat, etc And everything depends completely on who initiates the chat -- you're probably okay if they're on a high-speed DSL or cablemodem line (10mbps down and 1mbps up), but you're screwed otherwise. And it seriously, seriously sucks for one-on-one video chat. I have found that iChat does much better video and audio quality, even when talking to an AIM client on the other end. In contrast, Facetime totally and completely blows away everything else I've ever seen in this space, at least with respect to the kinds of systems that individual people can afford. If you want to build a media cave with hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars worth of Cisco or Tandberg equipment, you can certainly do better than Facetime -- at least, with regards to the quality of the video and audio signals, etc But even the most expensive equipment you can buy cannot possibly hold a candle compared to Facetime with regards to how trivially easy it is to actually make that connection and start using the service. Now, instead of comparing Facetime on an iPhone to Skype on a desktop computer, let's compare them both to the same hardware platform. On any handheld device I've ever seen, Skype seriously, majorly sucks huge planetoid size boulders, just with trying to keep up with group text-mode chat. Any irc client from the past ten-plus years would do (and does) far, far better. The problem is that few people on desktop computers these days know anything about something like irc, or are able to install and configure the software so that it works for them. In contrast, Facetime on the iPhone is the most trivially simple piece of software to configure -- Apple has already done all the hard work for you. -- Brad Knowles b...@shub-internet.org LinkedIn Profile: http://tinyurl.com/y8kpxu ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
From: Brad Knowles [mailto:b...@shub-internet.org] Facetime is the new standard, and I think it's actually pretty close to where these things will be. You will see Facetime integration into iChat, and I'm sure that there will be other implementations as well. Am I wrong in believing facetime is apple-only? If it's apple-only, you can only call it the new standard like google wave was the new standard to replace email. It bombed because they weren't friendly with non-google email accounts. In order to use wave, you could only sign in using your gmail account, and you could only communicate with other gmail users. Wanna talk to someone who isn't on gmail? Too bad. ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
ENH == Edward Ned Harvey lop...@nedharvey.com ENH Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2010 08:53:32 -0400 ENH Am I wrong in believing facetime is apple-only? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FaceTime says FaceTime is a video calling software feature for iPhone 4 and the fourth generation iPod Touch, developed by Apple and announced at WWDC 2010. It is based on numerous open industry standards and Apple has pledged to release it as an open standard allowing other companies to develop around it. so it sounds like it is for now, but maybe not forever. -Josh (iril...@infersys.com) ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
Skype is proprietary and have innovated a lot, I believe nobody else pools bandwidth the way they do. Is this for a company? How big? My experience is: For presence and IM, XMPP is one of the best open open protocol today. It does voice and video, but, I don't believe there are any physical dedicated devices for it, so it'd be pc to pc only. You mention openfire, I have been very impressed with openfire, but I have only used it in small setup so I don't know how it scales. You can also federate with other servers if that is a requirement, so you could do IM with people on gmail etc... There is a huge market for SIP physical devices, and even professional servers, and professionals doing the planing and installs, and if installed properly, you should be able to interact between physical devices and PCs. Presence works, but I have never seen IM working properly with SIP (could be an implementation issue). As Doug mentioned, do talk to people who do that for a living, it will save you a lot of time and a few grey hairs. There are other proprietary, non-standard platform, such as Microsoft (don't know the name of the products), but then you run in all the usual issues such as you can only use their clients, their directories etc... and they typically do not interact with physical devices. Depending on your budget and requirement, you should also look at the tenors such as Tanberg, with enough money, they will install a video conference room which make it hard to believe you are not looking at people accross the room. -- Yves. http://www.SollerS.ca/ http://images.SollerS.ca/ xmpp:y...@zioup.com ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
From: tech-boun...@lopsa.org [mailto:tech-boun...@lopsa.org] On Behalf Of Doug Hughes I'm pretty sure there are any number of commercial voip systems available for not too much money that hit all of your bullet points Name some? ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
From: Tom Limoncelli [mailto:t...@whatexit.org] Wouldn't it be easier to write a program that syncs contact lists? Skype contact lists? Or something else? I'm not sure there's an API to the skype contact list... ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
On 09/24/2010 08:24 AM, Yves Dorfsman wrote: For presence and IM, XMPP is one of the best open open protocol today. It does voice and video, but, I don't believe there are any physical dedicated devices XMPP (Jingle) is used as a control channel, not for exchanging the media traffic. The actual voice/video capabilities depend on the client or device. e.g. Psi and Pidgin now have rudamentary p2p voice capabilities. No client compares to Skype that I'm aware of. for it, so it'd be pc to pc only. You mention openfire, I have been very impressed with openfire, but I have only used it in small setup so I don't I'd be wary of openfire. VC pressures have forced them to slow development of the free version. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/technology/start-ups/08sequoia.html?_r=1 Beyond their friendly management GUI, I found the server lacking when I evaluated it a couple years ago. It might be good for small shops however. know how it scales. You can also federate with other servers if that is a requirement, so you could do IM with people on gmail etc... ejabberd, prosody, m-link are other servers worth looking into, which will probably outperform openfire in terms of scalability and customizability. There is a huge market for SIP physical devices, and even professional servers, and professionals doing the planing and installs, and if installed properly, you should be able to interact between physical devices and PCs. Presence works, but I have never seen IM working properly with SIP (could be an implementation issue). As Doug mentioned, do talk to people who do that for a living, it will save you a lot of time and a few grey hairs. There are other proprietary, non-standard platform, such as Microsoft (don't know the name of the products), but then you run in all the usual issues such as you can only use their clients, their directories etc... and they typically do not interact with physical devices. If you are an Apple shop, then iChat is an option. It can use XMPP for presence management and IM, and Bonjour/RendezVous/zeroconf to set up the voice/video connection. I don't know of any other clients that work with iChat. Jesse Depending on your budget and requirement, you should also look at the tenors such as Tanberg, with enough money, they will install a video conference room which make it hard to believe you are not looking at people accross the room. smime.p7s Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
From: tech-boun...@lopsa.org [mailto:tech-boun...@lopsa.org] On Behalf Of Jesse Thompson traffic. The actual voice/video capabilities depend on the client or device. e.g. Psi and Pidgin now have rudamentary p2p voice capabilities. No client compares to Skype that I'm aware of. Oh dear. You haven't used iChat. It's enormously better than skype as a client. Only problem is the fact that it's Mac only. Polycom makes a similar client which is Windows only. I'm evaluating counterpath Brio now, which is cross-platform, and looks promising. But I don't know yet. I'd be wary of openfire. VC pressures have forced them to slow development of the free version. I noticed. And I'd be willing to consider a commercial offering, but I don't see that they offer one. ejabberd, prosody, m-link are other servers worth looking into, which will probably outperform openfire in terms of scalability and customizability. Thanks. If you are an Apple shop, then iChat is an option. It can use XMPP for presence management and IM, and Bonjour/RendezVous/zeroconf to set up the voice/video connection. I don't know of any other clients that work with iChat. Oh. I guess you have used iChat. ;-) ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
Re: [lopsa-tech] Build Your Own Skype
Polycom makes a similar client which is Windows only. I'm evaluating counterpath Brio now, which is cross-platform, and looks promising. But I don't know yet. Oh. I forgot to mention. Cisco makes a cross-platform client that's really decent too. CUPC. I have no idea how to implement it, or how much it costs though. I really wish iChat were available in Windows/Linux. But that's not the apple way. Some people like MS communicator, but not me. I forget why. It was a year ago. ;-) ___ Tech mailing list Tech@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
