Firefox VoIP Client

libocannici writes "Abbeynet Labs has released the first version of a Firefox VoIP extension which is a full featured SIP user agent plugin for Firefox." The Firefox extension is completely stand-alone, with all VoIP functionality built directly into it. From one-click calling to SMS sending, this promises to be quite handy. All Internet calls are currently free, just requiring an abbyphone account, while PSTN calls have a small charge.

Comments

AMD

[celardore]

Will it work on my AMD processor?

Re:AMD

[Anonymous Coward]

it probably won't work on /any/ processor once the firefox team has become sufficiently alien with the 'do one thing, do it well' mantra that has served them so well so far. perhaps firefox should include its own version of solitaire?

Re:AMD

[qbwiz]

What are you complaining about? This is an extension. The firefox developers had nothing to do with it.

Re:AMD

[gEvil (beta)]

perhaps firefox should include its own version of solitaire?

No, but it sounds like a great idea for an extension!

Re:AMD

[ban]

Why did anyone rate this as insightful? Neither the poster nor the moderators took the time to try to understand the not so funny but still valid reference to Skype favoring Intel over AMD http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/13/201523 6.

Just Google Slashdot with "AMD VoIP" and voila, there it is at the top.

No wait. What am I complaining about? This is Slashdot.

--
Hi... I'm grumpy.

Re:AMD

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot: Ads for Noobs, Stuff that Doesn't Matter
</flamebait>

Err, why?

[Poromenos1]

Why does this have to be a Firefox extension? Why can't I just use Skype (or at least make it standalone)?

I use Opera, damnit!

Re:Err, why?

[Yvan256]

Really, plug-ins and extensions are one thing, over-doing it is another.

Why not a WoW client or GameBoy emulator extension for FireFox while we're at it?!

Re:Err, why?

[misleb]

Good question. It isn't like it is cross platform or anything. So not only is it limited to Firefox, but also Windows. Seems like a silly set of restrictions just to get the "convenience" of clicking on a phone number and calling or whatever it does. How often does that happen, anyway? Calling tech support from a vendor support page?

-matthew

Re:Err, why?

[coreyb]

RTFA - you click on a phone number in a web page and it calls it. Not that cutting and pasting 10 digits would be that difficult, but there it is.

Re:Err, why?

[wfberg]

Why does this have to be a Firefox extension? Why can't I just use Skype (or at least make it standalone)?

There are a zillion stand alone SIP applications, which is beside the point.
From the company's perspective this is great for 3 reasons;
1) one-click install; no setup.exe, no .zip files people can't open, no folders they shouldn't delete; it's all hidden away, much like it's pretty hard to fudge up your macromedia flash "install".
2) silly browser integration; it recognizes phonenumbers and makes them clickable,
3) guaranteed coverage on slashdot and other firefox-crazy websites.

If it's really that useful, Opera will have it integrated in 3 months time anyway ;-)

Re:Err, why?

[mpathetiq]

A gameboy emulator extension is actually appealing to me. Having a gameboy on a tab would be awesome.

Re:Err, why?

[JayDot]

They also have a seperate desktop app, so you don't have to use Firefox. You can find more info on their website. http://www.abbeyphone.com/

Re:Err, why?

[misleb]

You do know that if you run Windows, you have your applications in little "tabs" in the bottom of the screen, right? Is alt-tab really that hard?

Re:Err, why?

[mpathetiq]

I've never heard of Alt+Tab... ever.

I know it's silly, but the reason I would want a GB emu on a tab is so I can easily hide it. If my boss looks over my shoulder and sees "GAMEBOY" on the task bar, there's a pretty good chance I'm goofing off. If he sees a tab named "GAMEBOY", he might just think I'm reading a GB related site. For some reason, he thinks wasting time reading about games is more less non-productive than actually playing the games themselves. Woo hoo! Double negative!

Besides, if I wanted to use Alt+Tab all the time, I wouldn't need tabbed browsing.

Re:Err, why?

[heinousjay]

If it's really that useful, Opera will have it integrated in 3 months time anyway

And then both users can call each other without leaving their browser!

Re:Err, why?

[mpathetiq]

more less non-productive

That should read:

more productive

OR

less non-productive

Where's the Preview button again?

Re:Err, why?

[Ugot2BkidNme]

umm useing the callto:############### can prompt skype to make the call for you as well. it's not like it is genious or anything it defaults to the application set same as the mailto: function on the href.

Re:Err, why?

[Bogtha]

you click on a phone number in a web page and it calls it.

You still don't need to build the VOIP into the browser. Just a Greasemonkey script to convert plain-text telephone numbers into <a href="tel:..."> links and a handler to pass off tel: links to an external program just like mailto: links are handled.

Re:Err, why?

[Bogtha]

If it's really that useful, Opera will have it integrated in 3 months time anyway ;-)

You laugh, but Opera for mobile phones already implements RFC 3966, which means you can click on a link in a web page to call somebody.

Re:Err, why?

[bcat24]

Do we really want Firefox users and Opera users to call each other that easily? Imagine the all the flamewars they'd have. :)

Re:Err, why?

[koweja]

Actually, "more less non-productive" sounds like something a manager would say, so it works in this context.

Re:Err, why?

[baadger]

The same could be said about Opera widgets, most of which have nothing to do with being useful to web browsing.

When Web 2.0 calms, and the dust has settled we will see what consequences have swept in with all this madness.

How about a simple extension that'll make it easy to transfer webpage bookmarks across IM network during conversation, without having to go edit your bookmark and copy and paste the url, that may actually be a useful integration for heavy VoIP users...no no lets just put the whole VoIP client in the browser it makes so much more sense.

Re:Err, why?

[baadger]

Windows let's you register your own protocol handlers, if you wanted you could easily register "skype://" and have the Skype client pick up on in webpage clicks, if Skype haven't already done so (I've never used it).

Re:Err, why?

[NutscrapeSucks]

Memory protection is overrated anyway. We should all go back to using MacOS 9, where every program was pretty much an "extension" of every other program. In fact, maybe Firefox should be extended to include a complete MacOS Toolbox API, and then we can run all of our software within Firefox. As long as programmers don't create bugs, it would work great.

Re:Err, why?

[andrewman327]

What are you talking about, Alt-Tab is WAY too hard. Ctrl-Pgup is of course the much easier alternative.

Re:Err, why?

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL Brilliant! Now please solve polution and world hunger, you are obviously full of wonderful ideas.

Re:Err, why?

[Bogtha]

Sure. Just build massive electric fans to blow the pollution away and invite the hungry people over for dinner.

Re:Err, why?

[WCD_Thor]

Well then switch to Firefox, its much beter than Opera, I used to use Opera, then Firefox came out and I was like "WOW! A browser that actualy works!"

Re:Err, why?

[misleb]

Actually, after some more thought i realized that it would require an extension to make the phone number clickable in the first place which could be done in a relatively simple extension and then call an external app as you say.

-matthew

Re:Err, why?

[misleb]

So what you need is a gameboy emulator that doesn't say "GAMEBOY" in the taskbar. alt-tab would hide it real quick. Alt-tab vs. alt-pgup in Firfox.... hmm seems like a pretty trivial reason to make a Firefox gameboy emulator.

-matthew

Re:Err, why?

[Ruff_ilb]

Ctrl+TAB is also the Alt+TAB alternative for firefox.

Re:Err, why?

[inkslinger77]

maybe we should get a petition going to Opera

Re:Err, why?

[drinkypoo]

I know it's silly, but the reason I would want a GB emu on a tab is so I can easily hide it. If my boss looks over my shoulder and sees "GAMEBOY" on the task bar, there's a pretty good chance I'm goofing off.

There's a large number of utilities that provide "minimize to system tray" functionality. Some of them even add a button to the title bar, to the left of the minimize button.

Re:Err, why?

[drinkypoo]

Actually, after some more thought i realized that it would require an extension to make the phone number clickable in the first place which could be done in a relatively simple extension and then call an external app as you say.

Actually, it would probably best be done as a greasemonkey script, at least for the issue of making phone numbers into links. I'm not sure how to best add a protocol handler.

Re:Err, why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Silly set of restrictions that covers say 95% of the market...not too silly from a business perspective if you ask me

Re:Err, why?

[LittLe3Lue]

CTRL+TAB actually.

Re:Err, why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds convincing! I'll do it!

Re:Err, why?

[Spliffster]

You might google for Wengo phone. An xulrunner application (well soon, now its a firefox extension) created by Daniel Glazman (former Netscaper and Author of "N|Vu" WYSIWYG editor).

Cheers,
-S

Re:Err, why?

[CerionMorgauin]

Why so many opinions? Why so many ideas? Colors? Alternatives? Options? Politic Parties?

Why?

Anyway, the basic idea of putting a VoIP client on FF is that your browser is always open while you surf the web.
If you sur the web to look for info, you could be interested in contacting someone, uh, human: at present, there are zillions of possibilities and alternatives.
Making a call is one of these. Making a call from your web browser, is just a click away.

Ticked Off Ma Bell

[neonprimetime]

I betcha if this every caught on ... it could really tick off the big phone companies.

Re:Ticked Off Ma Bell

[stratjakt]

If this was going to catch on, it would have already with all the standalone clients like skype, or the 'cheap long distance' thingies they used to sell at CompUSA.

I don't think a plugin for a browser with ~9% (generous estimates) market share is going to topple the Telco giants any time soon.

But maybe I'm a gloomy gus.

Re:Ticked Off Ma Bell

[misleb]

Yeah, because you know everyone is just dying to be able to make personal phone calls from their web browser. Seriously, the only VoIP services that pose any serious threat to the big phone companies are real POTS replacements like Vonage or Speakeasy VoIP, etc. You know, the services that you can plug your regular phone into and not be chained to your computer. Services that offer 911.

-matthew

Re:Ticked Off Ma Bell

[vishbar]

Remember the lack of net neutrality? Now, Ma Bell just calls up her ISP division, and oops--VOIP transmissions are suddenly shaped into 1kb/s oblivion...

Re:Ticked Off Ma Bell

[Anonymous Coward]

> it could really tick off the big phone companies.

I don't have much, if any, interest in internet calls. But that right there is really tempting me to give it a try...

Why use firefox then?

[Anonymous Coward]

So if it's a standalone extension, why is it an extension? Just for the GUI?

All in One ... Not always Good?

[AWhiteFlame]

Firefox Plugins: Why run anything else?

I'll just run Skype in my tray, thanks..

Re:All in One ... Not always Good?

[Anonymous Coward]

It said SIP client, not Skype. Call me when Skype can talk to the myriad networks using SIP.

Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[gasmonso]

With all this development for FF, it makes me shed a tear for IE users. If they only knew.

http://religiousfreaks.com/

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[stratjakt]

Knew what? How to double click on the icon that launches skype?

I'll get the word out. Thanks.

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[saleenS281]

If only you knew. There's a large community out there that makes "extensions" for IE as well, you've just never bothered to look.

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[mustafap]

>you've just never bothered to look.

Duh. This is /. How about a few links? Ah actually dont bother.

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[Stephen Gilbert]

There's a large community out there that makes "extensions" for IE as well, you've just never bothered to look.

Sadly, Microsoft's security patches keep breaking compatibility with these "extensions".

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[baadger]

Dude ..the kinds of "extensions" he means don't have websites. You don't even have to goto the trouble of downloading or installing them yourself, they're that good.

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[Kadin2048]

He doesn't know. That's the beauty of IE "extensions" ... they just show up on your computer, by magic!

It's the state-of-the-art in software distribution. They install it on your computer before you even know you want it there. Microsoft has always been ahead of the curve here.

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean viruses?

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[roesti]

Depending on the emails you get and the sites you visit, you may already have some of these IE "extensions" installed without realising it.

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[Emetophobe]

I thought they were called "exploits". I guess you're using the "it's not a bug, it's a feature" mentality :)

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[CerionMorgauin]

Well, IE users can use the Web based component. http://www.abbeyphone.com/ It is based on ActiveX technology, it is SIP compliant, it overcomes, with a tunneling strategy, certain FW problems for "L" users... If you want to give it a try by yourself, there is an API and a "copy&paste" demo here: http://www.abbeyphone.com/VOW/sdk/

Re:Almost makes you feel sorry for IE users

[mkw87]

Oh, you mean like activeX? Yeah, thats great stuff!

Crap stuffed into firefox is not crap anymore ?

[file-exists-p]

This is a non-free windows VOIP application. There are zillions of similar things already on the market. Why is this one noticeable ? Because it was stuffed into firefox-the-free-software ?

Re:Crap stuffed into firefox is not crap anymore ?

[Buzz_Litebeer]

Agreed, if this was some kind of software to try to make firefox a social networking browser then it would be cool, but as it is its just someone trying to leverage some of the firefox market.

Re:Crap stuffed into firefox is not crap anymore ?

[Anonymous Coward]

For a Free/free cross-platform Firefox VOIP extension try OpenWengo (http://www.openwengo.org)

Re:Crap stuffed into firefox is not crap anymore ?

[Lumpy]

Exactly, Its not configurable for use with Asterisk or anything else.

I find this plugin as useful as the yahoo toolbar that get's shoved down my throat at almost every turn now days.

Re:Crap stuffed into firefox is not crap anymore ?

[aliquis]

Which also only works with their account? Crap.

SJPhone/Twinkle/Ekiga ftw.

Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[stratjakt]

How about a FORTRAN compiler plugin or a plugin to catalog the users collection of anal beads?

Seriously, can we say feature bloat?

The next firefox news I want to here is the news that firefox 1.5 isn't a memory leaking bloated piece of shit under linux. I'm not joking when I say that running IE under wine is faster and more stable on my machine. FF is leaking memory just sitting there doing nothing -- I can see it happen with top.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[stratjakt]

Quit trolling, everything "just works" on a Mac, the metrosexual anthropomophized PowerMac (are they called PentiuMacs now?) in the commercial said so himself.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

As the Fine Summary states, this is an extension. It is therefore optional. If you don't want it, don't install it - but it is unlikely to become core FF functionality. These guys obviously thought it would be useful so they have created it.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[SmellTheCoffee]

Seriously, can we say feature bloat?

Not really...this is an EXTENSION which means it is not built into the firefox code base. You have to put extra effort to actually download and install it. If you download and install then obviously you know what you are doing and the extension is worth something to you. Other could care less and can simply chose to ignore. I don't see how that is a feature bloat.

I'm not joking when I say that running IE under wine is faster and more stable on my machine. FF is leaking memory just sitting there doing nothing -- I can see it happen with top.

I have never used wine and I'll certainly never use IE with Wine under Linux. I'm perfectly fine with Firefox or Epiphany or Mozilla or Konqueror or Opera.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Americano]

Well, technically, they are right -- Firefox "just works" on my mini... as long as you define "just working" as "just [barely] working"... It's actually not so bad unless I try opening multiple tabs... then the memory usage spikes big time.

I really do like Firefox most of the time, but a VoIP extension? Yawn. I have skype already if I need it. I have a cell phone already if I need it. I'd rather see all that effort go into making Firefox as responsive and speedy as Opera.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Random Destruction]

This bug has already been fixed

Seriously though, with opera 9 finally out, who cares about firefox. Opera is wayy faster in linux. If only it had extensions like firefox, it'd be perfect.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

And Opera is free and open source too? KICK ASS

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Yvan256]

>Quit trolling, everything "just works" on a Mac

Yeah, like everything on Linux is "open source"...

First of all, Firefox isn't from Apple. Second, Firefox really IS bloated and slow on OS X. Never have I seen a program crash so much, even on Windows. No problems with Safari or Opera, however.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[linvir]

Odd that a Linux user savvy enough to run top and spot memory leaks could be so completely ignorant of a concept as simple as Firefox extensions.

You're right about it being unstable though. But the memory usage is for a reason. It's wasting a lot of memory to track how much time you've spent typing a textarea. It then takes this data and uses even more memory working out the exact right moment to crash and lose all your work on you, for maximum psychological effect. Bastards.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Amouth]

it is free.. and honestly it is one of the few things that i am glad isn't open source.. because well they inovate soo much and move very fast that if it was open for all well it wouldn't have the value because it would be forked every 5 min

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[chiller2]

How about a FORTRAN compiler plugin or a plugin to catalog the users collection of anal beads? Seriously, can we say feature bloat?

Doesn't that depend on how much of your bead collection you use at once? ;)

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[DavidTC]

That's not true!

I had a long post disproving that, but, um...Firefox crashed.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

Troll?? TROLL? The unbelievable "editorial" policy of this site sometimes is just beyond belief. Oh Great and Bountiful Slashdot Deities I beseech thee...just HOW is this a troll?

If JohnnyWithAWebSiteLOLOLOL (with a host of moderator points, natch) had posted this, it would be modded +5 Funny.

It was no troll. None of you idiots have obviously used Firedreck on a Mac.

But hey, if it doesn't jive with the great illuminati of Slashdot's uninformed "opinion," it just doesn't get any airplay here. Oops, did I say I hate the iPod? Maybe I can get modded even LOWER! Anime is Crap! Maybe I can get deleted entirely!

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

(are they called PentiuMacs now?)

Is that pronounced "PensuMacs"?

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Random Destruction]

Enh, it was just an AC, not a real person. I wouldn't worry about it.

Re:Remember when Firefox was a web browser?

[Amouth]

i know.. but honestly the comment needs to be said.. and i didn't see it any where.. and some people do read it.. and that is all that matters

There is already a skype extension for firefox

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.skype.com/download/skypewebtoolbar/fire fox.html

I maintain a salesforce database and this thing is brilliant. Just click the #.

Extensions are great.

[dubmun]

I'm just not sure I want to open Firefox everytime I want to make a phonecall ;)

Seriously, I don't think phone companies are going to care too much about this. They are more concerned with cellphone and how to continue to be profitable in the rapidly changing telecommunications marketplace.

Home telephone service is dying. (Please excuse the redundancy of that last statement. It just seemed like it needed to be said.)

Re:Extensions are great.

[PFI_Optix]

Home telephone service is dying.

Home telephone will die when:

1) Cellular coverage is complete and solid. There are still large chunks of rural areas with no service at all.

2) Cellular service becomes reliable. I run into "network busy" at least once a month; I've never had such a problem with my land line.

3) cellular service becomes truly affordable. I can get a land line with unlimited long distance for somewhere around $60-70. If I go with the most basic service, I can get it unlimited local for under $40. My cell phone plan with 600 "any time" minutes costs more than either. First cell company to unlimited minutes for $50 a month wins my cash vote.

4) DSL is available without telephone service. That's where the phone companies like AT&T are already going: they see a severe decline in landline subscriptions coming and are trying to dig into the cable market. "Fiber to the home" is becoming quite the popular phrase.

Re:Extensions are great.

[dubmun]

I agree with your first two points but:

First cell company to unlimited minutes for $50 a month wins my cash vote.

Try Cricket.

DSL is available without telephone service.

This is already possible. I had DSL through Qwest a couple years ago without any telephone service. They don't LIKE to do it but they will.

Re:Extensions are great.

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Cellular coverage is complete and solid. There are still large chunks of rural areas with no service at all.

Rural areas? I just moved from Fort Worth, TX to Mercer Island, WA. My cell provider (Cingular) worked well in Texas, but the coverage in the Seattle area sucks.

2) Cellular service becomes reliable. I run into "network busy" at least once a month; I've never had such a problem with my land line.

Continuing with the "my cellphone provider sucks" theme, I run into "network busy" at least once a day.

3) cellular service becomes truly affordable. I can get a land line with unlimited long distance for somewhere around $60-70. If I go with the most basic service, I can get it unlimited local for under $40. My cell phone plan with 600 "any time" minutes costs more than either. First cell company to unlimited minutes for $50 a month wins my cash vote.

MetroPCS offers a plan with unlimited local and long-distance calling, unlimited text and picture messages, etc, for $45/month. Unfortunately (for me) it's not yet available in Washington state.

4) DSL is available without telephone service. That's where the phone companies like AT&T are already going: they see a severe decline in landline subscriptions coming and are trying to dig into the cable market. "Fiber to the home" is becoming quite the popular phrase.

Or cable modem service without a cable TV subscription, something the local provider here seems unwilling to do.

Re:Extensions are great.

[ferrgle]

Just to say about point 4 above. I have broadband internet without a phone line. In the UK NTL will install broadband 1Mb/sec is 17.99 a month and you dont have to have a landline. Voip is great for me!

Re:Extensions are great.

[RWarrior(fobw)]

costs more than either. First cell company to unlimited minutes for $50 a month wins my cash vote.

They win. Coverage areas are limited, as they are a new launch and they are apparently building out their network. Even so, in the limited places where they offer service, this price point -- unlimited airtime for $45/mo -- has arrived.

Even more fun, there's no contract and no activation fee. While the phones aren't portable to other carriers (CDMA) and the selection of handsets is limited, that will change in time and you can, of course, port your old number.

Re:Extensions are great.

[Anonymous Coward]

Einstein gives you all you can eat minutes for $52 a month, with the taxes and that jazz. Service is just fine where I live, and rarely have connection problems. Costs extra to use the phone outside your home calling area, but you still have the free long distance of course. I live in Wisconsin, so this might not be of much help to you, but sooner or later they are all going to have to start offering all you can eat minutes just to compete.

Re:Extensions are great.

[blues_shuffle]

dubman confirms it!

Re:Extensions are great.

[PFI_Optix]

Five states, and only minimal coverage in most of those. They don't even cover Houston, and I live in a little rural Texas town hours from any of the major metros. They're not a viable solution for the vast majority of us. I'm talking about national coverage, not some little startup...you know most of those fail in a few years, right?

Firefox card games

[kkovach]

Been there, done that.

http://cardgames.mozdev.org/

- Kevin

Thanks, but no thanks.

[Rob T Firefly]

With my normally running Skype and/or gaim, I've already got all that functionality. I love Firefox and all, but I really see no need to use my web browser as yet another 3rd-party non-free VOIP app.

MOD Parent UP: Insightful

[bananaendian]

This is a non-free windows VOIP application. There are zillions of similar things already on the market. Why is this one noticeable ? Because it was stuffed into firefox-the-free-software ?

Never were truer words spoken. Would mod this +1 Insightful but all out of points...

PS: how about some links to open VoIP clients ?

Confrence-blogocall?

[RingDev]

It would be kinda interesting to be able to visit someone's blog and be able to talk with other visitors and the author live time. And it could also be handy if you keep a "speed dial" list on your startup page, no need to dig out numbers, just hit the home button and click the link to your favorite relative.

-Rick

<EVERYTHING> extensions.

[OverDrive33]

Is it just me, or is it getting more and more possible to do away with Windows completely and just use a plethora of Firefox extensions to accomplish the same goals?
The more I think about it, there certainly are enough extensions out there to just have Windows boot firefox.exe rather than explorer as a default shell. Forget the start menu! Everything you need is built into your web browser!! As for office apps, there's a good range of "Web 2.0" office suites that you could use.
I can't decide if this is a good or a bad thing.

Asterisk IAX Client too

[Albanach]

As others have pointed out, it's not the first VoIP extemsion for Firefox.

There's also an IAX client for Asterisk fans called MozIAX available here.

Re:Asterisk IAX Client too

[jdg_pf]

Thanks for mentionning MozIAX (aka MozPhone). I'm its creator, and yes it has been publicly available for more than a year (on Windows and Linux, could easily be ported to OSX), and I used it myself in Mozilla before Firefox ever existed !
Why develop and use a Firefox extension for VoIP ?
  . cross platform
  . i18n
  . very easy install / uninstall
  . themes
  . use "tel:" URL to call from your intranet pages
  . natively display URL transmitted via IAX web based call center
MozIAX also does chat through IAX text capabilities.

Project page is: http://moziax.mozdev.org/. See you there !

Thanks,
Jean-Denis

But does it work in linux?

[Se7enLC]

... No, it doesn't work in linux

Saying "firefox plugin" is not enough if you don't plan on supporting ALL versions of firefox. You need to specify "windows only" so we can lump it in with the rest of the windows VoIP crap.

Re:But does it work in linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

If it said "Firefox plugin" and worked only in linux and not in Windows you wouldn't give a shit now would you. Would you bitch if it was only for mac? Quit whining.

aw, geeze .....

[Gorshkov]

Somehow, I don't see me trusting the technical excellence of anybody who is going to try to talk me into trying something on a webpage with a dark blue background and small, light grey text

Re:aw, geeze .....

[stratjakt]

Yeah, they better add some looping midis and some bitchin' flaming skull animated gifs if they want to be taken seriously on todays web.

A handful of counters couldn't hurt either. And 24-pt blinking text never goes out of style.

Not the 1st: Wengo beat them to the punch

[OlivierB]

Wengo's had a Firefox multi-plateform (Mac, PC, Linux) and multi-architecture (x86, PPC) VoIP extension available for about 4 months now. See it here

Wengo btw is my operator of choice here in Europe with top-notch voice quality and reliability with prices lower than Skype. Only problem is their inbound number is France only atm. Did I mention that they have a working Gaim port?

Re:Not the 1st: Wengo beat them to the punch

[molarmass192]

You mean this one here? For some reason it fails to install for my with a "Coming soon ..." message. ;-) The non-FF extension Wengo is pretty cool though!

Re:Not the 1st: Wengo beat them to the punch

[molarmass192]

I just stumbled upon the OpenWengo FF extension for Linux here

Re:Not the 1st: Wengo beat them to the punch

[OlivierB]

Sorry I should have mentioned that the Linux FF extension is still Alpha and hence isn't listed on the front page.
Thanks for posting the corrected link to the page.
Wengo rocks for supporting such diverse platformes, hope you'll enjoy it as much as me.

Re:Not the 1st: Wengo beat them to the punch

[overbored]

Furthermore, the WengoPhone software is FOSS (GPL), unlike Skype and Google Talk, and it uses the SIP standard. Google only released a library (libjingle) for enabling A/V over XMPP (the Jabber protocol).

Re:Not the 1st: Wengo beat them to the punch

[aliquis]

Oh, france in-number in Sweden, how fucking useful.

I'd rather use a client which let me use any provider such as sjphone, twinkle or ekiga thank you.

Re:Not the 1st: Wengo beat them to the punch

[OlivierB]

If you had checked out the links you would have seen that Wengo has two clients: Wengo and OpenWengo
WIth the latter (available on openwengo.com) you get a SIP client that you can configure to work with any SIP provider. So what are you complaining about? THey offer you a pre-configured client for their service, if you just want the client use their open-source FOSS software.
What else do you want?

Can we get an office suite as well?

[MikeRT]

Who wants to take bets on how long before someone writes an office suite plugin?

Re:Can we get an office suite as well?

[baadger]

Somebody should work on getting User Mode Linux entirely encapsulated in a single one-click install Firefox extension...then we could run Firefox on it.

Re:Can we get an office suite as well?

[Kadin2048]

Why stop there? Why not just build a VMWare plugin for Firefox?

Why stop at being a web browser when you can be a hypervisor too?

Re:Can we get an office suite as well?

[CrosseyedPainless]

"Interesting" indeed. *Hello, idiot moderators, it was a JOKE!*

Re:Can we get an office suite as well?

[popeyethesailor]

Not necessarily far-fetched as you might think. It's been done before; for instance check Inferno, an OS developed in Bell labs.(AT&T/Lucent/VitaNuova ....). A full Inferno system ran as a plugin for IE.

VoIP in a browser?

[mnmn]

Forgive me for asking but what part of the browsing experience makes up voip? How is voip browsing?

Things like xmms and mplayer are more 'browsing' than voip. Things like email clients, voip, financial applications, spreadsheets, idsoftware games are all non-browser software and should not be a part of the browser. A browser should include things that are required for browsers, and wont go anywhere else like shockwave flash players.

And I've seen other comments before, people dont like their firefoxen growing fatter.

Not in a few months...

[helmutvs]

Given how many people still use IE over Firefox, when IE 7 and 7+ are released (non-beta), there will be lots of development for IE "Add-ons". These are the Add-ons so far. On the main page, there's a link to make your own MSIE 7 add-ons. Thus, a new facet to the IE/Mozilla competition will emerge.

Shedding tears? No. IE users have a bright and better browsing future to look forward to.

Re:Not in a few months...

[DavidTC]

IE users have a bright and better browsing future to look forward to.

I'm not entirely sure how it would be possible for them to end up with a worse browsing future.

I use Stickam

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not VOIP but for PC-to-PC video chat stuff I love Stickam. It's totally free -- but the best part is that because it's Flash-based it doesn't require any stupid download (ahem Skype). And of course I couldn't use if it didn't work on my Linux laptop, my girlfriend's Windows machine, and my brother's Mac (I even tried it in Safari).

Re:I use Stickam

[linvir]

It's totally free -- but the best part is that because it's Flash-based

RMS must be spinning in his grave...

Re:I use Stickam

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares.

Re:I use Stickam

[Anonymous Coward]

I wasn't aware RMS was dead =P

Re:I use Stickam

[stuuf]

I stopped taking you seriously when you said that Skype is a stupid download and implied Flash is not.

Flock

[tecker]

This seems like something that would be better suited for Flock rather then Firefox. Wouldnt it make more sense for You to be able to see who was on and then be able to call them for free. Im guessing that someone will do this.

Re: extensions.

[Bogtha]

Yes, Firefox is truly becoming the 21st century EMACS. It's a decent OS, all it needs now is a good web browser ;).

What really worries me is when the EMACS developers realise that they can replace their built-in web browser with Firefox and when the Firefox developers realise that they can replace their built-in text boxes with EMACS. The resulting bloat will collapse in on itself and the Earth will be sucked into the newly-formed black hole.

An alternate to this VOIP extension

[dmbtech]

A great alternite to this extension is the openwengo firefox extension. Its a little buggy, but gets its job done and looks very nice. Its called openwengo, and you can get it from http://www.openwengo.org/ . Its open source, lightweight and also allows free phone line calls, which Abbeynet doesn't do.

s/EMACS/Firefox

[anothy]

Eighty Megabytes And Continually Swapping?

Firefox is my operating system; linux is its device drivers?

Future, meet the past. Past, the future.

Why must everything be a firefox addin, and why...

[CFD339]

...is this /. news? Does anything that happens with firefox by definition make it news? A VoIP client is just a SIP or perhaps an IAX2 stack with a text interface. There are many libraries for doing this now. A java sip library and a few minutes of ui code can build a SIP client. What value is there in having it part of firefox and not a standalone bit of java that runs in your KDE or Windoze desktop? Is there a reason you'd only want to make or receive calls when firefox is loaded?

The New New New Thing

[Doc Ruby]

I hope that the wide deployment of Firefox makes this SIP client catch on fast and replace the proprietary Skype clients that created the market.

And I hope this SIP client pushes Firefox into even further deployment.

Simple integration of voice into the Web has the power to be the "new Netscape", combining multiple related functions into a single integrated experience among hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Calling the PSTN for a charge might become like the mid-1990s paying small dialup prices to access the rest of the Net for "free".

Re:The New New New Thing

[Anonymous Coward]

the problem with "normal" voip is that it is easily blockable, which is what most telco's are planning (if not already) doing. those "unlimited" connections that you bought for $40/mo is not really "unlimited" in the true sense of the word. skype OTOH is really giving them the willies...

Re:The New New New Thing

[Doc Ruby]

The same filters that block SIP can block Skype. The same tricks to get Skype past them work for SIP.

VoIP is probably going to force ISPs to honor their "unlimited" contracts, or revise them, in combination with other streaming apps.

Customer support.

[Joseph Vigneau]

One "VoIP in a browser" scenario that immediately springs to mind is customer support. Say you go to your bank's web site to look at your statement, and something doesn't check out. It would be nice to be able to click on the button that says "Speak with a representative" and be on your way. Same for retail, or any other industry, really. Or, with your Yahoo/Google/MSN contact list, it would be nice to be able to click on an icon next to someone's name to speak with them.

And don't get sucked into Skype, use open systems, like those built on SIP, to prevent single-vendor lockin.

Re:Customer support.

[Ash-Fox]

It would be nice to be able to click on the button that says "Speak with a representative" and be on your way

Speak with a representative?

And don't get sucked into Skype

It's either Skype or MSN voice chat with other computer users... I choose Skype.

use open systems, like those built on SIP, to prevent single-vendor lockin.

I would need something that inter-operates with Skype really to be of any use to me.

Re: extensions.

[molarmass192]

You are correct ... well ... except for the fact this is extension is for Windoze only (abbeyphone-ff.xpi/components/SIPXPCOM.dll).

Skype or OpenWengo or ...?

[DieNadel]

What phone+video communication software do you recommend?

It must run at least on Linux and Windows, and running on OpenBSD would be a plus.

PSTN connection is not a must, but would be nice as well.

So, what is the best software for phone and/or video communication?

Isn't it now called VONSA?

[freelunch]

Voice Over NSA.

Re: extensions.

[linvir]

I can't decide if this is a good or a bad thing.

Good:

• OS independance
• Mostly open standards and open source
• World peace
• A cure for AIDS

Bad:

• The price of OS independance (in this case) is incredibly high-level programming, with system requirements to match
• PAEDOPHILES CAN USE BROWSERS!!!

My Pentium III can still handle KDE + Firefox + Extensions, so I'm not complaining yet. And at 4 - 2, it's a net win for Good Thing.

Re:RONG AGAION LUNIX FAG

[docdoc]

You know, I appreciate a good discussion about as much as the next guy, whether or not I agree. Sitting on a handful of mod points though, I would like to be able to mod you down as -1, "appreciate your argument, but not the all-caps lunix fag part". Flamebait probably, but +0.5 informative maybe?

One word for you

[linvir]

Whooooooooooosh

Re:One word for you

[KaoticEvil]

And I've got an even better one... SPELLCHECK!

Re:One word for you

[WilliamSChips]

Double whooooooooooooooooooooooooosh

Idiotic extension

[Anonymous Coward]

What has this do with web browsing? Firefox is a web browser after all. I cannot imagine any added value of this - why not just release this as a stand-alone application?

seems like the term "free" being abused here

[sacrilicious]

For a Free/free cross-platform Firefox VOIP extension try OpenWengo

Skimming the site, the software may be free/open/libre, but it looks like the infrastructure into which it taps is not free (Wengo charges money). Is this the case with all voip setups/clients (that they must necessarily tap into a non-free infrastructural provider)?

Re:seems like the term "free" being abused here

[jma05]

Only if you call POTS. That has nothing to do with software. The carriers charge money and that is beyond the control of Wengo.
OpenWengo is a SIP phone. Since SIP is an open protocol, you can call any SIP phone in the world for free (for example, non-wengo clients like Gizmo and regular phone lines hooked with SIP adapters).

Re: extensions.

[hyfe]

I can't decide if this is a good or a bad thing.

I'll help you out: It's the latter.

Features are nice as long as the UI is clean and performance doesn't suffer. FireFox accomplishes neither at the moment. Opera, on the other hand, have in my opinion been walking a fine line, performance is still good enough, but occasionally I have my doubts about the interface (usually after having seen my step-mother using it, but she's capable of not understanding anything, including 'click there','click with the left mouse button there', 'click with the left mouse button there, and release the button right afterwards so it makes a little click sound and don't move the mouse to the other part of the screen while releasing the mouse button')

*sigh* Fine, then...

[Valdrax]

I betcha if this every caught on ... it could really tick off the big phone companies.

*sigh* Fine then... You've convinced me. I'll give it a try.

FF

[Anonymous Coward]

Idea! FireFox operating system extension! Then you could boot up FF, open an operating system, then do cool stuff like open a web browser and surf teh intarweb!

Great start! Now where is a *working* java applet?

[enigma48]

This is a great step but I've been dying to find a relatively cheap java VOIP Applet.

My parents are technophobes - replacing IE is possible but having them download an extension is a bit much.

Show me a working java VOIP applet I can put on my webpage (I don't care if I need to pay to sign it) and I'm definitely willing to shell out some cash.

Re:RONG AGAION LUNIX FAG

[DavidTC]

Everyone, it's now official: The reason that MS delays security patches is to give people time to update their 'extensions' so that they can transparently install in the next version of IE as quickly as the old.

Um?

[Queer Boy]

How is this the first? Especially since you can use Wengo on Macs and Linux.

Re:Err, why? Not for me, thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

All I need is an on-mouse-over that dials an expensive foreign number. Yeah, right.

Standard protocol is needed!!

[sirdaz]

Great, yet another client. Soon there will be so many different VOIP clients and protocols, that everybody will be waiting 30 minutes on computer startup to run each client. The VOIP market is getting very messy as I see it. Each protocol is a completely seperate one from all the others, with no way to communicate with any other. If VOIP is to grow mainstream or gain popularity in the general public, there needs to be a standard protocol. One that each different client can use. I use skype, you use this one, she uses that one. Id much rather have one client that uses a standard protocol than have all 3 clients running.

Re:Standard protocol is needed!!

[rodac]

There are two standards for VoIP (SIP and H.323) and any application that implements them should interoperate just fine with any other implementation.
Any SIP VoIP application should interoperate just fine with any other SIP application. same goes for H.323.

Skype is special and uses a proprietary nonstandard protocol and as such wont interoperate with anything else.
It would be nice if skype were to be gradually phased out and replaced with proper H.323 or SIP based applications.

Re:Standard protocol is needed!!

[ianalis]

SIP is the standard protocol. What you are asking is a standard client which is politically hard to do especially in the FOSS community.

Re:Standard protocol is needed!!

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

There are two standards for VoIP (SIP and H.323)[...]

Don't count out IAX2. Although mainly designed to talk to Asterisk servers A)anyone could conceivably use it anyway and B) there certainly seem to be a lot of Asterisk servers out there these days...

But, yeah, SIP (the current favorite) and H.323 (older protocol, used by MS's old "NetMeeting(tm)" product and a number of others) are the big ones.

VoIP wiki

[gfim]

Your wish is my command... VoIP wiki.

Soft SIP is a "Killer App"

[asphaltjesus]

in every sense of the word.

I work in a company that does the vast majority of it's business everywhere else in the world BUT the U.S. and sip makes it easy for customers to call us from all parts of the world.

We even run a sip server and give out accounts for just this reason. Guess What? It's good for business.

A browser plug-in makes it better.

AsphaltJesus is roadworthy

Yeah, see...

[Stephen Gilbert]

Did you notice that "extensions" was in scare quotes? That was supposed to imply that the "extensions" were Internet Explorer malware, and by "breaking compatiblity" Microsoft was fixing the vulnerability.

Man, I'm subtle and I didn't even know it! Don't mod me funny or you'll ruin it!

In other news...

[Lost Found]

...3D Realms has announced that Duke Nukem Forever will be shipping soon as a Firefox plugin.

Tool

[linvir]

Thanks for that patronising lesson in how to spot a subtle joke. I'd return the favour if I wasn't busy recovering from laughing my ass off at you.

Re:Tool

[Stephen Gilbert]

You're welcome!

compatibility

[DrYak]

Why can't I just use Skype ?

Maybe because Skype uses some closed proprietary protocols, and is only compatible with Skype,
whereas this extension use the SIP protocol (documented and open), and therefor is compatible with the gazillion of other SIP-compatible VoIP applications (e.g.: Ekiga - H323/SIP VoIP software).

Re:compatibility

[sgarg]

OpenWengo http://wwww.openwengo.org/ has a desktop app, as well as a FF extension. The desktop app supports multiple IM protocols, as well as SIP. You can use the FF extension to make calls from the browser.

Been there, done that :)

Does it work under Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

Very Good news, but does it work under Linux? I use Tomahawk Desktop, probably the best Linux OS for VoIP. Is there a plan to port to Linux?

I hate to be that guy..

[Neoncow]

.. who goes out and explains the joke. But it pains me to see that people don't get it. (Or maybe they're being so subtle that I don't get them, whatever.)

But parent post is a JOKE! linvir is saying that the MS patches break the "extensions" (malware) built by the dev teams (black hats/script kiddies) on a rigid monthly cycle, so that the dev teams have time to prepare the next version of their malware to release unto unsuspecting IEusers.

(BTW if you're serious, then it's still a great joke. Good job.)

Re: extensions.

[arjun]

Yes, Firefox is truly becoming the 21st century EMACS. It's a decent OS, all it needs now is a good web browser ;).
and javascript is the new lisp :o)

Wiretapping Skype

[Anonymous Coward]

If You'd know how easy it's to wiretap Skype, you wouldn't use it. You have there less protection than in walkie-talkie.

Re:Wiretapping Skype

[Potor]

Skype is pretty secure - I usually find that my skype calls end up pretty scrambled on their own.

SIP-clients

[aliquis]

no
no
no
and no

Bloat wars

[shish]

Firefox is the new emacs D:

sipdiscount

[Anonymous Coward]

All that crap seems well bloated to me.

I personally use sipdiscount http://www.sipdiscount.com/ and Ekiga http://www.ekiga.org/. Gives me free calls to most of the western world and an incoming UK number.

As far as I know, Ekiga is the only usable open source SIP softphone, wengo and co lock you to one provider.

Anybody knows of a good open source (or just free as in beer) softphone for windows while I wait for Ekiga on win32?

Wengophone

[Quietti]

How is this story supposed to be any improvement over Wengophone?