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GnomeMeeting 1.0 Videoconferencing/VoIP Released

Posted by simoniker on from the fishing-rods-at-dawn dept.

Howard Vanbel writes "Apparently the developers of GnomeMeeting have released the final v1.0 version of the videoconferencing/VoIP software. GnomeMeeting started as a final studies work at the Department of Computing Science and Engineering of the Universite Catholique de Louvain and after 3 years of development, GnomeMeeting 1.00 is ready! GnomeMeeting is the most advanced Open Source VoIP and videoconferencing software available - there's more info in the project FAQ."

5 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Encryption by chrisvdb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would very much like to see encryption of the voice stream added to its list of features! This would really set it aside from the competition...

    Cheers,
    Chris.

    1. Re:Encryption by tronicum · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Beside that this would be indeed nice, encryption can be done on the transport level.
      Setup a VPN or tunnel.

      Of course for a large userbase a simple "encrypt session" button would be ideal.

  2. Hooray by mkro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just when Microsoft start phasing out Netmeeting, we get something compatible :)

    I guess we should put a bounty up for someone to reverse engineer the MSN Messenger 6.1 webcam protocol. (And yes, I know what GnomeMeeting is - and is supposed to do - and also know that an IM is not the same, but still, people just want to communicate with their friends and family.)

    --
    I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
  3. NAT and Firewall support by Sanity · · Score: 4, Interesting
    One of the main problems with most VoIP apps, whether on Linux or Windows, is that getting them to work through a NAT or Firewall can be an absolute nightmare, even for those for whom port-mapping is normally second nature.

    This is the reason that Skype seems to be succeeding where others have failed, despite using a closed and proprietary protocol.

    NAT2NAT (establishing a direct connection between two firewalled nodes) really isn't that hard to do (just get both peers to fire some UDP packets at each-other for a few seconds to fool the NATs), so why are there no free and open protocols for low-configuration VoIP? (and if I have missed one *PLEASE* let me know)

  4. Completely agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I can't believe that in this day and age the authors of these VoIP applications don't seem to realize that the vast majority of Internet users are behind NATs or firewalls. Protocols like SIP and H323 simply aren't equipped to deal with this effectively. The result? A closed protocol like Skype is rapidly becomming the global VoIP standard.

    Zero-configuration NAT circumvention is much easier than people think. You just get both NATed peers which want to send UDP packets to each-other to send a few packets to the other's NATs on the ports you want to use. Most NATs will then start to forward those UDP packets and hey presto! You have established a direct UDP link between the two peers and your user hasn't had to lift a finger.

    All someone has to do is to combine this technique with somethink like Speex, make sure you have both Linux and Windows versions, and we have a free competitor to Skype using an open protocol. I would do it myself if I had the time.