Choices

Skype's advantage was convenience; it was a one stop VoIP solution. Of course, it was always a deal with the devil and it looks like he is getting ready to collect. Windows users have nothing to worry about: they are using the devil's OS already. ^_^

The free (as in speech) option offers choices. Lots and lots of them. First you have to choose a SIP provider from dozens and dozens. If you only want VoIP, comparing them is not too hard. If you want to call POTS numbers, it becomes more complicated because then you have to compare pricing and the fine print. If you want an incoming number (DID), it's yet another level.

And then you still have to find a soft phone you like. Or how about a hardware solution, instead?

Having choices is great. Sorting through them is not, but freedom isn't free. SIP provider recommendations are most welcome.

Microsoft Acquires Skype

Microsoft is paying over US$8 billion for Skype. First question: are they nuts? Yes, they are most definitely nuts paying that much for a company that is basically on life support. Their reasons for acquiring Skype are a mystery.

But the more important question is: how long before they kill the the Linux client? Of course, Microsoft is promising to continue supporting Skype on non-Windows platforms, but I'm not convinced. Linux being a competing OS has nothing to with it. The Skype Linux team will likely fall with the employee cuts that are SOP when you acquire another company.

I will be looking more seriously at other options. Perhaps this will be the wake up call that provides the impetus to develop a good free VOIP client. I can only hope.

Linux Skype 2.2 Beta

I installed the minor update for Linux Skype on Debian sid and it seems to be working fine. It is a minor update but you can never be too sure, so I had the the old .deb package handy just in case.

Skype may be closed source but at least they provide proper .deb and .rpm packages, which ultimately is the best way for to install software on Linux. A further curiosity is that Skype actually provides separate packages for Ubuntu and Debian, an indication that the latter must be a noticeable portion of the user base.

A few years ago I heard that Skype was planning to release a library which would enable others to write front end GUIs. Nothing concrete was ever announced so I guess it was just a rumour.

Skype Post-Mortem

The official Skype post-mortem of the outage was posted yesterday. It's an interesting read because there is more detail than you usually get from large companies, who generally prefer not to air their laundry in public. Here is some commentary on the report. The US$1 credit was a nice gesture, too.

I wish events such as these would encourage people to seek alternatives to Skype, but there are two reasons why that won't happen. First, Skype is deeply entrenched and it will take much more than a 24 hour outage to rip Skype from everyone's psyche. Skype would have to be totally non-functional before my family would switch. Second, most of the alternatives suck in the client department. Find me a usable SIP client for Linux, please. Anyone? Didn't think so.

As much as I dislike the proprietary nature of Skype, it's one of those deals with the devil I've learned to accept. I'm going to hell anyway, so what difference does it make? ^_^

Skype Outage

It figures. Within days of deciding to pay for some Skype services, they have a massive outage. I haven't been able to connect for more than a minute before I'm kicked off again. The official explanation doesn't have much details and the even though their Twitter feed says service is returning to normal, it hasn't for me yet.

Blocking Skype

While my brother was in the U.K., he found that Skype on the N900 was blocked on every wifi hotspot that he tried. Not just a few hotspots blocked Skype, but every single one, even in his hotel. It's very strange because the nothing in my research that indicates that anyone in the U.K. blocks Skype on wifi hotspots. It's supposed to work.

On the other hand, in Canada and the U.S., Skype hasn't been blocked at any wifi hotspot, the exact opposite condition as in the U.K. Draw your own conclusions.

Skype Voice Tap

The trojan that taps Skype VoIP conversations is old news by now. However, the most interesting part of the interview was how the programmer, Ruben Unteregger, envisions making a trojan work on a Linux system using Flash or Moonlight. As the Linux desktop systems try to provide the same functionality as Windows, the barriers that made Linux more secure are slowly being lowered. At the moment the number of Linux desktop users is very small so it is not yet worthwhile to take that next step to develop a crossplatform trojan. Emphasis on "yet."

Skype And 64-bit Linux

I recently acquired a used Athlon 64 3200 system and will need to decide whether to install 64-bit or 32-bit Linux. I prefer 64-bit but some closed source programs like Skype will definitely be a problem. There are lots of guides for getting Skype to work on 64-bit Linux. Some instruct people to install the necessary 32-bit libraries on the 64-bit system by overriding the architecture. Frankly, this idea gives me the willies. There is also a statically linked package which gets mentioned a few times. I would try a 32-bit chroot first because it solves the problem once for all 32-bit only applications.

Of course, it would be so much easier I didn't need these closed source programs... mutter, mutter...

Skype After MPlayer

Since I started using Skype, it has always had a problem with video after running MPlayer. I managed to hit the right search terms today and finally found the answer. It seems MPlayer changes a XVideo attribute and then does not restore it before MPlayer terminates. Skype is not the only program that expects the XV_AUTOPAINT_COLORKEY attribute to be 1. After using the command

xvattr -a XV_AUTOPAINT_COLORKEY -v 1

to set the attribute back to 1, Skype video works.

MPlayer should restore configuration variables to the same state that it found it. It is just good behaviour. On the other hand, programs shouldn't expect that a user configurable attribute is always going have the correct value. I'm going to call it a draw and blame the bad programming on everyone. I was hoping it would be Skype's fault so I could blame the closed source program.

• https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCL-350#action_27894
• http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/software/ogle-after-mplayer.php
  

Skype

It seems that most of my family has been bitten by Skype. I'm chatting frequently with my brother in Australia. My sister Jean just signed up. Apparently, my other sister Pat and John have been yakking for a while already. The only person left out is Marie, my third sister who lives in England. I don't believe that she would try to install Skype by herself. She has a friend who used to help her with computer stuff, and I'm hoping she is still around. I sent a email to started the ball rolling, let's see what happens.