Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 10th May 2011 08:19 UTC, submitted by porcel
So, the biggest acquisition in Microsoft's history. The Wall Street Journal reports - and it has been confirmed - that Microsoft and Skype will announce today that Redmond will buy Skype for $8.5 billion. That's a lot of money for a company that hasn't ever actually made any profits. Update: and it's official: yay on Skype on the Xbox360 and Windows Phone, and this: "Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms." Let's hope this includes Linux.
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Member since:2010-03-30
Member since:2009-08-26
Member since:2010-04-10
Member since:2007-09-06
A truly OSS skype alternative would indeed be welcome. What are the chances it would retain the POTS bridges though? I frequently use Skype to call long distance to land line numbers. I could actually reverse that and have a land line number that forwards to my local Skype if I wanted.
I do see an OSS version being able to match or improve on Skype to Skype functions. Here's hoping that OSS project can also manage to make a business of it and provide access to POTS lines. I'd be happy to give them my $2.95 a month instead of Microsoft.
Given Hackerspaces and community projects that have managed to setup and provide local ISP services, it's possible. Come on all you Hackerspaces out there; get coding some voip and see if you can make it happen.
Member since:2010-01-08
I'm sure there are a lot of OSS alternatives to skype. The problems with these alternatives are:
1) Quality - sound and video quality over slow connections made skype so loved. I'm sure though that there are products that offer good quality.
2) Market - Skype is not standard in any way but it is the de facto standard.
The problem with chat and VoIP is that you need a program that is compatible with what your friends are using. And since your friends have other friends and so on, you need to convince a hole market to adopt a new program.
Or at least to convince enough people to try a new chat(VoIP) and have to programs with the same functionality running at the same time.
Edited 2011-05-10 14:54 UTC
Member since:2010-03-08
Member since:2011-05-10
Secure video calls, conferencing, chat, desktop sharing, file transfer, support for your favorite OS, and IM network. All this, and more, in Jitsi - the most complete and advanced open source communicator.
via http://jitsi.org
also: http://www.jitsi.org/index.php/Main/Features
Edited 2011-05-10 09:16 UTC
Member since:2005-11-01
"Secure video calls, conferencing, chat, desktop sharing, file transfer, support for your favorite OS, and IM network. All this, and more, in Jitsi - the most complete and advanced open source communicator.
via http://jitsi.org
also: http://www.jitsi.org/index.php/Main/Features "
You've GOT to be kidding? ..written in Java .. consumes 250 MiB with 3 protocols active and 5 users online.. and i thought Skype was bloated crap!
I guess rewriting Pidgin in Java increases memory consumption by a factor 20!
Edited 2011-05-10 10:23 UTC
Member since:2006-02-15
"Secure video calls, conferencing, chat, desktop sharing, file transfer, support for your favorite OS, and IM network. All this, and more, in Jitsi - the most complete and advanced open source communicator.
via http://jitsi.org
also: http://www.jitsi.org/index.php/Main/Features "
Jitsi is nowhere near the same as Skype.
First of all, it relies on 3rd party IM networks and protocol which means it's bound to have days when it's not working because the API got changed. Also, there's the risk that Microsoft/Yahoo/etc. will just lock these alternatives out of their network completely.
Secondly, it doesn't do phonecalls to, you know, actual phones. That's one of the most important selling points of Skype, that it can place regular calls to cell-phones or regular phones anywhere in the world.
Thirdly, it doesn't do SMS messages either. Some people use Skype for that too.
Fourth, it's is an EVEN bigger pig on resources than Skype is. Geesh.
Member since:2010-12-22
Member since:2007-03-04
Not available for Linux: http://www.google.com/talk/otherclients.html
Member since:2008-02-26
Member since:2008-07-15
"The end of Skype for Linux? ... I suppose my family will have to live without us being able to video chat freely.
Also probably the end of Skype for Android... "
And possibly the end of the iPhone version too. I can just see Apple banning Skype because it directly competes with Facetime, and it's now owned by a direct competitor on top of that. Actually, when you consider Apple's attitude, the Android version is probably more likely to stay alive.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2009-03-13
The end of Skype for Linux? ... I suppose my family will have to live without us being able to video chat freely.