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

[Dotan Cohen]

> For the record, I use Ekiga and video calls, voice calls and chat all
> work fine.

Thanks, that is great to know!

> In my experience, Ekiga has given me better performance
> (perceptually) than Skype. This is on a connection half a world away on
> a 32 KB/s connection on one end, *while* all other transfers are going
> on (scp, vnc viewer, etc.). YMMV.
>
> I think file transfers are also supported, but I have never tried those.
> I use SSH, scp and https for those things for privacy and security.
>
> Paypal: I am not sure, don't know.
>

This one I have my doubts about, though in honesty I do not think that
this would be a dealbreaker for many people.

> Oh, Ekiga "just works" through firewalls, at least in the situations I
> have used it. This is same as Skype.
>
> What Ekiga is still lacking is encrypted calls, which Skype has.
> However, there have been quite a few news stories about Skype providing
> backdoor keys to various entities for the purpose of monitoring or
> eavesdropping. In this case, once Ekiga get encryption (when, ekiga
> devs, when? you said it will be 3.0, but now you are on 3.2!), it will
> be better than Skype.
>

This may get Ekiga some points.

> Finally, Ekiga plays quite nicely with pulseaudio, so I can switch mics
> and headsets on the fly!

Nice, for Linux users!

>> transfers at the very least. Oh, and a pony would be nice.
>
> Regarding the pony, if Skype provides it, I think it might be enough
> bribe for some to keep using it :)
>
>
>
>>
>> Show me a client that has the above features, and can be installed
>> with click-click-click with no cost to the user and I'll help you
>> spread the word.
>>
>
> er .. Ekiga? I did not have to type any command in a terminal to set it
> up and start using it. Even registering on ekiga.net was quite straight
> forward ... but it requires touching your keyboard, mind you. :)
> Have you even tried installing and using Ekiga at all within the last
> one year? You appear to be out of touch with its current status.
>

I have never tried Ekiga, as my contacts do not use it. Honestly,
though, I though that it was voice only. Now that I know that it
supports video and chat, I will look into the Windows client. If it is
easy to install and register, then I will start recommending it as an
alternative to Skype.

> At present, the main argument people make in favor of Skype is "oh,
> everyone else is using it", as you did. Perhaps you can show some
> enlightening leadership to your friends and nears ones to convince them
> of the inherent problems with Skype and to try other alternatives?

>From experience people do not care about the shortcomings of the
software that they are using, rather, they care about the features of
what they are moving to generally. As soon as I get a chance to
evaluate Ekiga for Windows I may start suggesting it.

-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il