18 Mar
2005
18 Mar
'05
5:09 p.m.
On Friday 18 March 2005 15:44, Eric Dantan Rzewnicki wrote:
I know very little about skype and don't have much
time or personal
interest in learning about it. But, it's making inroads. I want to
understand what it does and what free software alternatives are
available. Is it possible for free software alternatives to inter
operate with the skype world?
Free software VOIP typically takes the form of SIP, or Session
Initiation Protocol, which is as close to a standard for end users as
VOIP really has. Skype doesn't have any SIP gateways as far as I
know, though they're supposed to offer something called "SkypeIn"
this summer to do that. Personally, I'd rather just avoid them
altogether, as it seems what they've brought to the mix is primarily
marketing.
I would say Linphone is the most widely used free SIP client software,
at least under Linux. Linspire seems to be throwing some money at
PhoneGaim, though, so maybe it'll be grandmother-friendly before
Linphone.
Rob