The future of Ubuntu Linux.... Will it make Micky$oft go bankrupt?

[Karl Auer]

On Tue, 2009-05-12 at 11:57 +0100, Graham Todd wrote:
> I don't know why uses on Linux persist in using Skype.

Because millions of other people do, and it takes two to tango.

>   SIP can be used
> by a wide variety of softphones (eg. ekigia, twinkle, linphone, etc),
> there are wide variety of providers, and usually I find the audio
> better.

That is my experience also.

But it's the additional stuff that Skype has that puts it ahead -
firstly the possibility of simply and cheaply talking to any normal
telephone, secondly the extensive directory service, thirdly the user
status display.

Ekiga has (via ekiga.net) set up the equivalent of Skype's directory,
but it is a pale shadow of Skype's usability and contains a tenth of the
data or less. And you can't call an ordinary telephone via Ekiga as far
as I know.

Given that Skype is also free, it's a bit of a slam-dunk. Most people
couldn't care less about free-as-in-freedom, as long as a) it works and
b) they don't pay for it.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)

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