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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.
Will it work on my AMD processor?
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 ?
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
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
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.
http://www.skype.com/download/skypewebtoolbar/fire fox.html
I maintain a salesforce database and this thing is brilliant. Just click the #.
Been there, done that.
http://cardgames.mozdev.org/
- Kevin
The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act.
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.
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There's also an IAX client for Asterisk fans called MozIAX available here.
... 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.
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.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
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?
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
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.
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.
Bogtha Bogtha 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.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
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.
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".
--
make install -not war
Voice Over NSA.
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.
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