PhoneGaim Brings Phone Calling To IM Users

An anonymous reader writes "Eweek has an article on how PhoneGaim integrates IM and phone into one program making it possible for AOL/ICQ, MSN and Yahoo users to call each other, landlines and cellphones. It talks about how it could be a Skype-killer since it's based on open standard SIP and comes with free PSTN calling (5 minutes per day), free voicemail via email, and even supports incoming phone calls from PSTN. It's out first for desktop Linux (maybe the start of a new trend?) but it's open source so expect a MSWin version shortly from Gaim team."

Comments

Sweet!

[l33t-gu3lph1t3]

Now THERE is your linux IM-EMAIL-VOIP killer app.

Re:Sweet!

[Ari_Haviv]

it could be a killer open source app but how can it be a killer app for linux if it will be for Windows?

But thinking in terms of "killer" for one platform is the old way of thinking. Open source itself is the killer feature for an app no matter what platform it's on. But if the platform itself is open source-that's a 2fer.

VOIP still sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously. People have been trying to do VOIP for years, but hardly anyone wants it. There's the "neat" factor, but for anything but that international calling (if the call is to someone as tech-savvy as yourself, of course) it's useless.

To those wondering..

[wfberg]

The service (with 5 minutes free etc.) used is SIPPhone, the company that was started by the Lindows guy.

The 5 minutes for free can only be gotten by using phonegaim ON lindows, buying a SIPPhone device, or by buying $20 of SIPPhone minutes. Not actually free, then, just included with the cost of your purchase.

Note that you can only call people if you're BOTH using phonegaim. You could just exchange (S)IP numbers and use any normal SIP client for the same effect. Nothing to see here. There are already dozens of free SIP clients.

Note that skype, while a cooky closed-source, non-standard product, does have good support for using it behind NAT, which is harder with SIP. (Personally, I say, give me the IPv6 already).

Re:That's nice...

[argent]

It's getting hard to find a high-end cellphone WITHOUT a camera now.

Re:missing the point

[LuYu]

So, if your friend or parent is in, say, India, will you just call them? I would say this is a very useful tool for travellers of any kind. Even college students who go out of state should find this useful.

The reason the two go together is cause it is about communication, and IM servers provide an easy way to find people (easy as compared to memorizing phone numbers). Also, whether or not you are using voice, you still need text messaging to send links and files because communication is no longer limited to speech.

By the way, file sharing already works (for MSN, at least). The only thing that is missing (from what most people are used to with p2p) is a search tool and persistent shared directories. Right now direct transfers involve actively sending files.

No credit to the Gaim team, in the slightest

[SuperBanana]

As usual, Lindows seems to be cruisin' for a bruisin':

PhoneGaim (pronounced "Phone Game") is an Open Source project started by Lindows, Inc.

I believe that should read, "PhoneGaim is an open-source project, using open-source code from Gaim with SIP technology added by Lindows, Inc."

Also, the main page is bullshit:

Available immediately, and exclusively for Linspire

Uh, try, "source is available on the downloads page", not "you must be running Linspire". Then again, they could have crippled it so badly that it will only compile on Linspire...

Linspire, phonegaim

[ites]

The reputation of Lindows/Spire is undeserved. They have always made the source code for their modifications to Linux packages freely available.

Phonegaim was paid for by Linspire and they have made the source code available as required by the GPL. This was mentioned in one of Michael Robertson's emails a few days ago.

You should stop speaking ill of people who do nothing wrong.