The reality is that, Skype is a kind of software that is better to use Windows version + WINE than native Linux version.
And even then, the Windows version is shit too so we should just be switching to a different service.
Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
321–330 of 483 posts
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#322Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#323Stop using Skype. The NSA allegedly collects all Skype traffic anyways. Do you really want that? "The full capture of voice traffic began in February of 2011 for “Skype in” and “Skype out” calls—calls between a Skype user and a land line or cellphone through a gateway to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), captured through warranted taps into Microsoft’s gateways. But in July of 2011, the NSA added the capa…
Yes, there are far better alternatives out there, so if we could stop using skype and switch to something else, would be a great move here. However, the network effect is strong with this one, so it is impractical to make the switch.
> Yes, there are far better alternatives out there, so if we could stop using skype and switch to something else, would be a great move here.
What? There are secure text-only clients, but voice/video/group video? Where is the more secure version of those? Or is this going to go down the road of "set up your own VoIP service" again?
People always say there are tons of alternatives to Skype... Where are these alternatives and why aren't they popular?
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention Google Talk was a chat system first and foremost. Hangouts is a funnel to get you to use their browser (still don't understand why it ships as a plugin) and social network first, chat application second.
> still don't understand why it ships as a plugin I always assumed it was because it would be cross-platform by default. Making native apps for Hangouts on Windows, OS X and Linux would be pretty time consuming. Also not sure what you mean by "social network", it looks a lot like a chat app to me.
Or you can use open protocol and let community to do the work for free.
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
> No desktop client Seeing the level of shitty ported Linux programs I see this as a pro. > Connected to your google account meaning I'll need to juggle several google accounts to keep my personal and business chats separate This would be easier with Skype if you have 2 Skype accounts? When using Chrome: > - Gets grouped with my other browser windows in my taskbar, making it hard to find Menu -> More tools -> Add to…
>> Connected to your google account meaning I'll need to juggle several google accounts to keep my personal and business chats separate >This would be easier with Skype if you have 2 Skype accounts? to some extent. depending on how you start a hangouts, you have no idea what account it's going to start under. The number of times I've gotten on a work call on my personal account because google felt it should use that…
It's trivial with skype. You just start two instances. On Windows, you need to use a third-party tool, on Linux it's as easy as setting HOME to a different folder for the second instance.
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
Skype is shit, but Hangouts is not even a contender * No desktop client * Connected to your google account meaning I'll need to juggle several google accounts to keep my personal and business chats separate Just the fact it doesn't have a native desktop client makes it unusable. I know there are workarounds I can use like nativefier but it's still not as smooth as a desktop app. Running in the browser: - Gets grouped…
(Tedious disclaimer: my opinions only, not representing anybody else or my employer. I work at Google, not on hangouts) These problems are largely resolved by using chrome. Pop out any tab into its own window, notifications will work reliably, the security model is far stronger, and most important of all: when one tab crashes, it's an independent process so it can't take any other tab with it. I use this every day wi…
I'm sorry, but I use my 32GB of RAM for useful work. Once I upgrade to 64GB I'll consider allocating half of it for Chrome.
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
> still don't understand why it ships as a plugin I always assumed it was because it would be cross-platform by default. Making native apps for Hangouts on Windows, OS X and Linux would be pretty time consuming. Also not sure what you mean by "social network", it looks a lot like a chat app to me.
Or you can use open protocol and let community to do the work for free.
[deleted]
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention Google Talk was a chat system first and foremost. Hangouts is a funnel to get you to use their browser (still don't understand why it ships as a plugin) and social network first, chat application second.
> still don't understand why it ships as a plugin I always assumed it was because it would be cross-platform by default. Making native apps for Hangouts on Windows, OS X and Linux would be pretty time consuming. Also not sure what you mean by "social network", it looks a lot like a chat app to me.
Hangouts was a big part of Google+. I'm pretty sure Obama did a "hangout" on Google+ back in the day.
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#329Skype has been getting worse and worse over the years. Personally I've switched to Telegram for chats, and I'll be looking for alternatives as far as voice calls are concerned.
For gaming I use https://discordapp.com/
It's a shame discord brands itself so thoroughly as a gaming communication solution. I've had friends (not business contacts!) decline to switch to it because it's not a general chat program but a chat program for gamers.
Re: Dear Skype/Microsoft: Problems with Linux client
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google talk circa 2008 was a lot nicer than Hangouts is now, too. The resource usage was lower, the UI was nicer and it was more responsive. It's really a shame they killed it.
I guess "Internet telephone" is still an unsolved problem silly smile I've setup asterisk as a personal SIP/voip server and it works pretty good. You can even hook it up to a provider that lets you out on the telephone network. And SIP is built into many hardware phones already.
Every few years I make an attempt to get into SIP/voip, but so far my experience has always been the same: Wall-of-text like documentation that makes no sense, huge cryptic config files, tutorials that assume you already know everything or that just don't work, software that only works with such-and-such kernel, conflicting information scattered across the globe. It feels like trying to set up Slackware in the early 90s. After a few hours I get tired and drop it again.