Linked by Howard Fosdick on Thu 8th Nov 2012 02:24 UTC
Microsoft is discontinuing Windows Live Messenger in 1st quarter 2013, forcing users to switch to Skype. Most would want to switch to Skype anyway with its more advanced capabilities, and the switch makes sense to Microsoft, since they purchased Skype for $8.5 billion last year. However, the move may be seen as typical Redmondian high-handedness by those using Messenger with dial-up. Technically Skype works with dial-up but in practice most agree you really need broadband for decent use. Will everyone view Messenger as replaceable by Skype?
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Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2010-06-08
No, hangouts aren't using conventional XMPP/Jingle, since they perform custom server side multiplexing. XMPP/Jingle is moving in direction of standardizing client side multiplexing (with Muji). Obviously client side multiplexing is more demanding on the channel bandwidth, on the other hand it doesn't enforce heavy requirements on the XMPP server.
Member since:2010-06-08
Member since:2006-02-15
Can anyone recommend a good cross platform video conf solution?
I'm personally more interested in an Average Joe - oriented cross-platform WLM alternative. I mean, the software would have to do all the usual stuff like e.g. voice and video chat, text chat with colours and embedded pictures, graphical smileys, the ability to send and receive files, offline messages, and maintaining of friends lists.
It being a replacement for WLM and needing to be Average Joe - oriented places several restrictions on it, however: chat rooms are not a replacement for friends lists and therefore friends lists are a hard requirement, there must be no need to choose a server or set up and configure server - related settings, and it must be a separate application, not just something that runs inside the browser.
I'm not aware of anything that'd fulfill those requirements except a few closed-source, non-cross-platform clients.
Member since:2006-12-06
I looked into Jitsi a while back (during/after the last major Skype outage). I didn't go with it in the end as I got a bit frustrated trying to set it up and Skype got working again.
https://jitsi.org/
But it's cross-platform, at least for PC OSes. As for mobile they don't have a client, but then it uses open protocols so there's probably an Android client that would interoperate.
And I should probably look into again due its OSS nature and secure encryption, considering how much I communicate with China (Skype for China has filtering and a backdoor for the Party to intrude)
Member since:2005-07-06
I'm personally more interested in an Average Joe - oriented cross-platform WLM alternative. I mean, the software would have to do all the usual stuff like e.g. voice and video chat, text chat with colours and embedded pictures, graphical smileys, the ability to send and receive files, offline messages, and maintaining of friends lists.
[...] it must be a separate application, not just something that runs inside the browser.
[...] it must be a separate application, not just something that runs inside the browser.
Too bad for the last requirement. Because a combination (so yeah, still not that great, not one app; though I'm not sure how extensive the Android client is) of Gmail with video plugin plus the original win32 GTalk, does pretty much all that (Gtalk for image transfers with nice previews, and file transfers in general if too big for email); maybe except not having several buddy lists, if that's what you want there.
Too bad it might not last, the win32 client is how neglected.
So, other than that... Skype, I suppose ;p
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2011-01-28
Dropping live messenger will have no impact on me.
I use skype because it's one of the few cross platform video chat solutions around. Unfortunately it's buggy and unintuitive. Contacts who are online don't always show up as being online. I've had trouble with the windows version dropping video and needing to restart calls to get video back. I'd love to have a better cross-platform solution.
There's some praise for oovoo, but they've been ignoring linux for five years despite continued requests. I personally cannot back a solution that isn't truly cross platform: windows, linux, android, mac.
Can anyone recommend a good cross platform video conf solution?