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Skype is already mentioned but I'm not sure how it uses the bandwidth for its own purposes, since it is a P2P software. I wouldn't like the idea that skype uses my whole (or major part of) bandwidth for some obscure purposes. OTOH the ad on the skype page tells it has no spy/ad/malware.

Skype is already mentioned but I'm not sure how it uses the bandwidth for its own purposes, since it is a P2P software. I wouldn't like the idea that skype uses my whole (or major part of) bandwidth for some obscure purposes. OTOH the ad on the skype page tells it has no spy/ad/malware.

Does anybody know good voip software? This one I know but it's a bit spartan and not so easy to use: Skype is well-known but I'm unsure how it uses P2P technique that uses bandwidth for its own purposes.

in this order . .
http://nonags.com/
http://www.pricelessware.org/thelist/index.htm
http://www.doom9.org/ (click on the download button on the left)
http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/
http://www.komando.com/shareware_index.asp
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best.htm

Do I need to mention sourceforge and freshmeat?

Not sure if http://skype.com/ is listed in the above lists - it is surely worth mentioning but sometimes requires a USB headset purchase to tweak it, which is well worth the expense since this software often rivals Vonage service in quality when calling pots lines (non-free) and blows away anything when calling pc to pc (free).

http://grouper.com/

http://www.ultravnc.com/ is almost always my preference over tightvnc.

Realplayer is not that bad if it is tweaked - you have to look for the setting that disables automatic ownership of filetypes.

http://kerio.com/ is my firewall preference over ZoneAlarm and Sygate, although the windows xp built-in is is usable. Kerio keeps an eye on changing files via an md5 hash.

http://grisoft.com/, in most cases, would be my recommendation for AV software.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/ is great if you have the connection for it.

And if you want more free software then download emule.

um uh . . erase that last line

No thanks AOL. I'll keep using Skype http://www.skype.com/ as I can already do VOIP to landlines for about 2 cents a minute to almost anywhere in the world.

AIM, just like AOL's browser, has just been getting worse and worse with each new version. Although I don't use AOL I've seen the latest version they have, it's awful. With every new version they add more bloat, and more ads.

I recently got my circle of friends to change from using AIM to Skype, it even has IM functions for the few people who don't have a mic.

I still have Gaim installed, but I rarely use it now.

A quick note: They've recently changed their policy:

http://www.skype.com/company/news/2004/sa_creditex pirypolicychange.html

FYI, the company that made Kazaa also made Skype.

General FAQ link

- No encryption support now, none planned.

Skype uses 256-bit AES encryption, which, if implemented properly, should be secure enough for just about anyone.

- No compression on the audio, bandwidth hog.

The speech codec used by Skype outputs a compressed stream which cannot be compressed further; try zipping an MP3 and you will see what I mean.

- Skype rhymes with hype.

How is this relevant?

The other points can be debunked by those who actually use Skype.

And have you seen their privacy policy? They say they can listen to any call they want, and you waive any rights to sue them because of this.

And have you seen their privacy policy? They say they can listen to any call they want, and you waive any rights to sue them because of this.

Who modded this insightful?

The whole point of the whole damn story is that someone made a connector so you can use your normal cordless phone on skype's voip network wiht the "cheap Soundblaster microphone crap".

"You actually just use the phone like your normal phone and it automatically uses VoIP for all calls." --
exactly..thats just what you do here. The only difference is you have the option.

Its only 0.02 euros per minute for many major countries.

The rates for all countries are here

But try Skype. It works on Linux and Windows, its basically like an IM program, Skype to Skype calls are free, you can IM other Skype users (its got all the basic IM features you see on a IM program), sound quality is about that of a cell phone, and computer to POTS calls aren't just cheap, their extra geeky.

Michael Powell called them "the inventors of Kazaa" and, instead of correcting that, they quoted him here on their site. And then, on their own "founders" page, the first sentence is "Skype was created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, founders of KaZaA -- the world's most popular Internet software".

There are more examples, of course, but since this was incorrectly deemed 'informative', I felt the need to point out that it is 'misinformative'.

Michael Powell called them "the inventors of Kazaa" and, instead of correcting that, they quoted him here on their site. And then, on their own "founders" page, the first sentence is "Skype was created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, founders of KaZaA -- the world's most popular Internet software".

There are more examples, of course, but since this was incorrectly deemed 'informative', I felt the need to point out that it is 'misinformative'.

see Skype and Firewalls

see Skype Explained

see Skype and Firewalls

see Skype Explained

They inform about this nowhere.

--
Try Nuggets , our mobile answer search engine. Get answer to your your questions via SMS, across the UK.

I installed Skype the other day (it's apparently developed by the people who originally developed Kazaa, using "peer to peer" technology, however that works). Anyway, it installed without fuss and works from behind a firewall without me having to open ports. I haven't tried skypeout yet, only skype to skype, but hey, I'm chatting to my friends in the states for free, and the quality is much better than a long distance phone call. Thusfar, I'm impressed.

You can now easily get VOIP on the Mac - The free Skype VOIP service recently added OSX support.

Why pay those monthly fees at all when http://skype.com/ lets you

(1)talk to other skype users for free.

(2)ring any other telephone (including cell phones) in the world for 1 euro per hour (about $0.02 per minute)

It works surprisingly well on a dial-up connection, small (8 MB), and clean with no spyware or other junk.

Skype Is working very well for me. Free, VERY high quality calls to other people who have the program installed, and cheap, local rates to any land line/cell phone in the world!

Qrio could totally that things windows-running ass.

It looks like Johnny 5, but a cool project none the less. Perhaps they could install Pocket Skype on the PPC and have the robot follow you around as a mobile speakerphone.

Chris

Hang on:

>It does bundle spyware.

You're saying that Skype bundles spyware, even when the FAQ for the PC version already disavows this?

From http://www.skype.com/help/faq/index.html:
Does Skype contain any advertising or spyware?
No.

So what are you talking about? Or is this a cleverly disguised troll?

Or maybe I'm completely mistaken, and you speak of the program Kazaa, which had spyware bundled onto it by the guys who BOUGHT KAZAA OFF the makers of Skype (i.e Sharman Networks).

They really seem to be making a good go of it, just look at this heart warming image from thier site:

No spyware, no adware no malware complete with halo!

I have got to admit they deserve success based on thier current efforts.

Skype being from the people behind Kazaa (read as people behind spyware bundled program) was a bit worrying for me. It does bundle spyware.

Except the PDA version!

Skype Pocket PC

I love the idea, a PDA has a speaker and microphone, but on my Axim X30High it didn't work (it mentions this as a known issue) I wanted to use it as a geeky phone on my wifi connection.

Other workmates have skype, so it looks cool :-)

I guess as more money goes into the kazaa company, the more chance they have of being viewed as a less evil company (they have totally dissassociated thier skype brand now, they used to have a big "from those guys who brought you kazaa" sign.)

Yahoo! Messenger for Mac only supports video chat, but not audio chat. So you can see your friend, but not hear them.

I guess you could use Yahoo! and Skype at once if you really wanted to avoid using AIM, but iChat's video quality is much better...

You could also use Skype, which now has a Mac OS X client.

You could also use Skype, which now has a Mac OS X client.

I found the following link using Google, it doesn't go into much detail (which is a problem in itself - where is the RFC?), however, it doesn't suggest that "C" in my example is just a broker - it seems to be saying that C performs the role I described in my first post.

P2P Telephony Explained - For Geeks Only

I've used Skype both for computer to computer as well as computer to phone. As an example, I've been making most of my computer to phone calls from Russia to the US, which is almost 2 euro cents per minute.
I am seeing 3kbps down and 3kbps up on computer to phone. From computer to computer I'm seeing 4kbps down and 4kbps up. Computer to computer calls are completely free, but computer to phone costs money, about 1-2 euro cents per minute in most cases.

The quality is pretty amazing for only using 3kbps. Most of the people I call don't realize I'm not using an actual phone.

I do have one gripe about their service, however. When using my credit card to purchase minutes, they told me that since I was in Russia, I wasn't allowed to use a US credit card. They said all purchasers must be in the same country as the credit card they're using. I found this to be odd, considering that most people using VoIP would be country to country callers with a big chance they're not currently in their home country (calling home, maybe?).

When a friend of mine tried to turn me on to Skype, I was like,
'you don't understand, I don't use Windows'.
"Yeah, but they have a Linux client.'
'No WAY!'

Indeed, I went to their website and downloaded RPM's for Fedora Core 2. Not only did the software run terrific, but I even had a feature filled icon in my gnome taskbar notification area!

Skype appears to be really on top of their game in the VoIP market.

Is the source code for Skype available? Can I have a copy?

No. Skype is proprietary and closed-source software.

"I would be amazed if Nintendo allowed you to use the DS as a phone. It's just not going to happen. I think it's there to allow voice chat when playing against other people wirelessly, ala X-Box Live."

Agreed. There is no way in hell that you will ever make "free phone calls" on your DS. For you to make a telephone call, by definition your call must enter the PSTN at some point or other, and Telco companies are simply not in the habit of letting people terminate calls on their networks for free.

This so-called "story" is a load of 100% pure, unadulterated bullcrap. The best anybody should hope for is free DS to DS calls and nothing more, and even then Nintendo or somebody else is going to need to maintain a network for users to call each other over, unless people want to be dialling each other via whatever IP they have been currently allocated by the wifi hotspot operator and assuming that they actually have a real, non NAT IP address. I am thinking that they will need to do something along the lines of Skype, and I doubt very much that they would do that for free.

This free software gives the best voip quality. Now you can also use it to call to land lines.
http://www.skype.com/
I am waiting for a mobile phone that can use this one. Since I live in Japan we already have IP mobile phones since some time now.

Lars

Skype for Linux

And no, I don't have to compile it. Oh, and have you ever heard of RPM's or packages?

Some windows programs one has to *gasp* download additional software for it to work! (see videos, or anything that requires VBRUN DLL's)

And finally, the parent wasn't arguing about compiling.. the post was arguing about software availability for linux flavors.

Read before you Reply, Moron.

Frankly this wire tapping business has gone on long enough.

Any time a person picks up a phone to call someone, there is a subtle change in his thinking if he thinks he might be surreptitiously monitored. There are certain things you just don't say.

How is this different from meeting with someone on the street, perhaps to organize some political effort? If you think you may be overheard, it changes what you say.

(Thinking from a two hundred year old perspective,) the difference is that on the street, you can see who is listening. You know what is being said.

Secret wire taps by a third party subvert the entire process that granting the political freedom of assembly was intended to protect. If I want to speak to someone on the phone, law enforcement should be absolutely limited to compromising that other party in order to get in on the conversation. If there is a second party on the phone, I should get a little flashing light informing me that there is another listener.

I would just switch to Skype, except I have no idea how secure their encryption is either.

I wrote a really bitchy blog entry about this a while back right here, if you care.

Skype is one such binary program which comes to my mind. Maybe CrossOver office

Your calls are encrypted end-to-end in order to safeguard your privacy

From the release page

Note:
Skype 1.0.0.10 was released July 27 which fixed an issue with Windows 98 / Windows ME.

They are on the ball over there. Class act all the way. :)

Yes, there is a new EULA http://www.skype.com/eula.html, but unless I'm seriously mistaken, it does not forbid you to make worldwide calls; it says: "Please note that you are not allowed to use the Skype Software and the Services in territories where offering or using such services is forbidden by law. By agreeing to this End User License Agreement, you will explicitly state that you have verified in your own territory if the offering and use of such services is allowed." That's usual. If I'm wrong though, please correct me! Dug

Skype do sell a phone which plugs into the USB port on your PC to use the skype network.

I don't imagine a wi-fi one can be too far behind.

As you can see in the linked release notes, there's a new EULA. It forbids you to make worldwide calls between Skype users so it seems like Skype has contracts with the telephone companies as well!

Hands up who thinks that mybe VoIP might really take off? I have been using a really cool little VoIP program known as Skype which uses advanced P2P technology.

Skype claims to be the new MUST HAVE application... Is this the general view of the public?

A parallel would be decentralised p2p telephone system. It could probably be done too, but it won't be (for consumers at least) because the suppliers of the status quo would be obsoleting themselves.

That's why Skype isn't made by the status-quo.

It's a technology. This is insane!

Why doesn't some enterprising person create a P2P chat client?

Instant Messanging is getting to be so passee. I suggest you check out Skype which is a P2P Voice over IP Solution, and quite good.

Instant Messanging is just filling the gap in 'free' communication until we can all talk out loud to our friends using telephony.

Andy

Sorry, the link got a bit messed up.

Link to Skype's forums

According to their FAQ - yes. But since they use closed protocol, it is not worth a penny. They can be calling XOR masking an 'unrivaled privacy' for all I know.

They can't claim security unless it's verifiable, and it cannot be verifiable unless it's open. And even if it's open, the implementation can be flawed either accidently or intentionally (!).

So the best bet for an average paranoid is to consider calls going in plaintext unless proved otherwise.