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Skype for Linux: Where's the R-E-S-P-E-C-T?

linuxjournal.com — We Linux folk are the reliable early adopters of innovative applications like Skype who have done a disproportionate amount of work to make it popular. The gift horse we've gotten in return is a usable but much less feature-rich version that is years behind the other platforms.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 22, 2008

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  • n0odles, on 06/21/2008, -4/+126He forgot to mention the fact that Skype was taken to court & lost for stealing open source software and refused to acknowledge that the open source GPL license exists:

    http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2007/07/ ...
  • inactive, on 06/22/2008, -2/+72Sounds like pidgin needs an interface to SkypeAPI.
  • gurellia53, on 06/22/2008, -17/+76Skype: So how do you like the new GUI?
    Linux User: I want a freaking command line!
  • vacax, on 06/22/2008, -25/+84Prepare to feel the wrath of 0% of the people!
  • colonelbuckshot, on 06/22/2008, -6/+53Instead of bitching about this, I'd love to see the Mozilla project (or some other open-source/protocol people) make an app that is to Skype what Firefox is to IE.
  • Dongvid, on 06/21/2008, -5/+52This is probably the dumbest thing to gripe about, but what annoys me most about Skype on Linux is that they havn't added that thing that allows you to see if someone is typing to you or not. It really hinders the text chat.
  • samthurston, on 06/22/2008, -1/+24openWengo:
    http://www.openwengo.org/

    Problem being, it doesn't work with skype and most voip users are on skype, so... kind of a problem unless you can get people to switch.

  • Fergy, on 06/22/2008, -3/+24Yeah, really the most important thing about Skype is text chat...
  • qwuinc, on 06/22/2008, -0/+19And they were basically digging their own grave with that claim ;-)

    No GPL -> plain copyright violation... "oops"
  • ileftfark, on 06/22/2008, -7/+25BAWW- a proprietary closed-source application doesn't give us the same attention as it does for the other markets, which carry >95% of their users.

    I run Linux almost exclusively, but feel no entitlement to any for-profit applications. If the author was so instrumental in getting Skype to the mainstream, I have every bit of confidence that he will be able to propogate an open-source alternative that will be every bit as feature-rich, stable, and usable as Skype. I look forward to seeing it in the repositories.
  • TheRealToma, on 06/22/2008, -5/+22I wouldnt bother complaining about a proprietary interface, built rather shakily on an proprietary protocol. Dont use it, and theyll get the idea.
    "But my mum uses skype!" - So? Get her onto a good SIP account and program.
  • ascendingPig, on 06/22/2008, -1/+17There actually is one, an extension called Skype4Pidgin, but you need Skype running to do the actual calls anyway.
  • gavintlgold, on 06/22/2008, -1/+16Ekiga does not work as well as skype does, even though skype is horrible.
  • edebolt, on 06/22/2008, -7/+21no its a whopping point .5% of the desktop market....
  • diggymow, on 06/22/2008, -2/+15I think they were rounding.
  • blackjack75, on 06/22/2008, -2/+13You can digg down masterRR as much as you want but what he says is just the plain truth. The average people don't care. Skype does work exceptionnally well on Windows (and macs). There's no way I'll be able to convince the dozens of people I know to use anything else.

    The only solution is for someone to reverse engineer the protocol and make it open source, so it can be integrated into pidgin, adium, or whatever.
  • MasteRR, on 06/22/2008, -6/+17"But (insert name of any of the millions of Skype users who don't give a ***** about Linux here) uses Skype."

    Try and create a revolution on a large group of people who don't care. Ain't gonna happen.
  • Sliperyfish, on 06/22/2008, -9/+19Umm, there is a far greater userbase for windows. Why would they put more effort into a prouduct less people will use?
  • MikeSD34, on 06/22/2008, -0/+10They were probably going to claim that because there was no GPL and the source was distributed that it was somehow public domain.
  • 000ShaDoW000, on 06/22/2008, -0/+10I am no linux fan but my daughter has skype on her eeePC now and I belive thats some sort of linux OS isnt it?

    works fine i spoke to my sister and her kids in NZ for about 1 hour this morning (I live in AU)

    Used webcam with no issues at all
  • agentBanana, on 06/22/2008, -3/+13Skype sucks anyway. They steal your account balance if it is idle for over 180 days. I will never give them another penny.
  • inactive, on 06/22/2008, -7/+17I don't know why anyone's complaining.. Skype for windows is a piece of *****, you linux users aint missing out on anything.
  • fr3ddie, on 06/22/2008, -0/+9works fine for me. (the windows version that is)
  • molom, on 06/22/2008, -1/+10Ummmm... Linux users maybe?
  • molom, on 06/22/2008, -1/+9I don't see the big deal, at least ebay (Ebay owns skype) is providing us a linux version that can make calls unlike Joost, where they don't provide a linux version at all.
  • aussieNickuss, on 06/22/2008, -0/+8They do on the side of the earth that is dark at a particular point in time.
  • Frostek, on 06/22/2008, -0/+8Money saved on the OS, can be spent elsewhere. Like on eBay for example?
  • molom, on 06/22/2008, -0/+8Thats not possible because Skype uses a propriety network that Skype is only allowed to use.
    There are already alternatives like OpenWengo and Google Talk (Not sure if its available for Linux), but they can't and don't use the skype network. If there was a complete skype equivalent, people wouldn't be complaining.
  • manitoba98xp, on 06/22/2008, -0/+8Assuming you didn't buy the Windows Eee PC, you're correct – it's a custom Xandros Linux distribution. Skype for Linux has most of the key features nowadays – it can place calls just fine, etc.

    Since the Eee PC was designed for Linux, all of the drivers, etc. are baked in to work wonderfully. That's the beauty of Asus' solution.

    The article is complaining about the new GUI, etc. not being immediately ported to Linux, but I'm glad Skype is working well for you.
  • markmeinteil, on 06/22/2008, -2/+9Since 99% of all home users just operate a web browser when they "use" the computer. I have no idea why so many people fear it. There is less to fear with Linux than Windows. (Like trojans, spyware, adware, keyloggers, malicious hackers, Steve Balmer.) A distro like Ubuntu is probably easier for a first time computer user than Vista.

    Or, you can always buy a Mac, and forget about all these issues altogether.
  • willfe, on 06/22/2008, -0/+7Um, because some of them will *pay* for their service if it's sufficiently useful? $3 a month for unlimited local/long distance calling kicks ass, and Skype actually happens to work for me just fine for what do with it (voice calling), but it *does* suck that features available on win32 aren't available on the other platforms they supposedly support. I *am* paying them, after all -- it'd sure be nice not to be completely ignored by the people I'm paying.
  • sark666, on 06/22/2008, -0/+7Yes what you say is true, but a shame. It's like when firefox starting becoming popular. People were annoyed with IE's security and popups, so switched to something better. But one of the huge underlying benefits was standards compliance. No longer did you need IE to get the best experience. Thank god MS let IE rot for awhile. IF they just fixed some security issues and stopped popups and maybe added tabbed browsing, a lot of people wouldn't bother switching.

    But because FF became popular, stnadards compliance rules the day now, and any broswer,OS or little internet device will give you a good experience because of it.

    Same thing here, the standard is SIP. There are tons of devices, tons of clients for all OS's. It has video support, you can have encryption with addons. And the early firewall issues are pretty much long gone. You can do neat things, like capture the incoming call and have call display on your myth frontend. Not for the faint of heart but you could run your own asterisk server.

    Routers these days have built in voip ports. Use your own phone, without needing a computer on. SIP is the standard and should be the future, but I'm not sure what it'll take for joe blow to 'get it' this time around.
  • IdanH14, on 06/22/2008, -0/+6It doesn't have that feature? :O I didn't even notice. Probably because I don't use it for text messages. :D
  • JesseJay, on 06/22/2008, -2/+8You round up from 5.
  • MattBD, on 06/22/2008, -0/+6There is a ray of hope: the Asus Eee PC includes Skype, and I'm sure that other subnotebooks which run Linux will also include it out of the box. So IMHO we are likely to see increasing demand for it. People who normally use Windows or a Mac but have an Eee PC will no doubt want a version that offers parity or near-parity with what they use on other machines. So give it a year or two and I reckon we might see some improvement.
  • nielkie, on 06/22/2008, -0/+6Aren't digger nocturnal?
  • SharkAtlantis, on 06/22/2008, -0/+6every linux-user should use jingle (the gtalk vo-ip library)!

    Go go open source!
  • Giga, on 06/22/2008, -1/+7You can make open source replacements on Windows as well. On Linux, most software is open source meaning you can modify and fix problems in existing software. Having a proprietary application on Linux doesn't make it inherently open.
  • kerms, on 06/22/2008, -3/+9Yes.
  • PopcornDave, on 06/22/2008, -0/+5Yeah, you say that, but there's a lot of people that just use it for text chat. I still can't figure out why they don't just use AIM, ICQ or something similar.
  • manitoba98xp, on 06/22/2008, -1/+6There are many ways to install software. You don't have to use the command-line if you don't want to. (Though many Linux users do...)

    Ubuntu offers a nice "Install Applications" app which lists some common applications you might want. You pick one and click Install. It doesn't get easier than that. If you want the full APT package list, you can get that through Synaptic, the GUI package manager. More advanced, certainly, but still no CLI.

    And if you want to download the package from the site, many provide DEB packages for Ubuntu (you can also get many at sites like getdeb). Download that, double-click it, and it install via a GUI tool called "gdebi". Again, no CLI.

    The CLI is only really necessary for software installation if you need to compile the application or things like that. And to be honest, everything most users need is baked in already.
  • MacParrot, on 06/22/2008, -1/+6People still use Sega?
  • ErikHK, on 06/22/2008, -0/+5Exactly, in a perfect world I wouldn't have to use MSN...
  • teh_spazz, on 06/22/2008, -2/+7Probably the millions of users on Windows and OS X?
  • blackjack75, on 06/22/2008, -3/+8On the other hand if you don't send say, one sms every six months (or make a call), why the hell do you have money on your skypeout account?

    I agree the policy sucks however, but it's not that hard to live by if you actually use the service.
  • DarkJesus, on 06/22/2008, -2/+7A 64-bit version is needed.
  • dudefaceguyman, on 06/22/2008, -1/+5I'm normally a mac/PC user and I finally got around to dropping Ubuntu on my computer for my first taste of Linux yesterday.

    I consider myself an average tech guy, but I see how this would be a great OS for the average joe...even though it'll frustrate them. Why? Because installing software is ***** confusing but it will prevent them from installing useless ***** that ends up breaking the computer. It's never anything like, "download then click to install" it's all this command line crap.

    Which is good! and I really am trying to learn it! But the average Joe will laugh at you if you suggest they learn that stuff. Luckily Ubuntu 8.04 comes with Open Office, Firefox, Gimp, and many other basic applications right off the bat that'll fill the needs of 95% of casual computer users out there. Also it auto updated everything drivers/software/ect it needed right off the bat for me. Great (not to mention flashy) little OS. Having fun with it. =]
  • chaos386, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4I use Empathy's Jingle support to talk with my mother in the US (she uses Google Talk on Windows).

    I certainly don't need Skype.
  • MavRevMatt, on 06/22/2008, -1/+5Which is quite useless in the long run. Why bother using Pidgin if you already have Skype open?
  • zeebo, on 06/22/2008, -0/+4That may be the reputation, but its wrong. We earned that reputation when Loki went under, but it wasn't our fault. Over the next few years we all learned just how horribly managed the company was. Linux users today support three different premium products designed to allow us to run Windows software, we support several multi-billion dollar corporations, and I personally spend several thousand dollars on software a year (mostly on games and donations).

    There are far fewer pirates on linux even by percentage than there are on windows. Of course that isn't all that surprising considering that perhaps as much as half of all the PCs in the world are running illicit copies of windows, which is what we have to thank for the plague of botnets we face today.
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