Group: Skype Replacement

Skype Replacement is an item on the FSF's High Priority Projects list.

Protocol, not client

We need to make the discussion about protocols, not clients, (think how people say "send me an email" rather than "send me a Hotmail").

The primary functionality of Skype we aim to replace is real-time:

• voice calls
• video calls
• text chat

Anywhere over the internet (or beyond), with as many people per conversation, logging, etc. whatever other features (clarify this section as necessary).

The free protocols currently available to do this are.

	Voice	Video	Text	Notes
SIP	Yes	Yes?	Yes	sessions?
XMPP/Jingle	Yes	Yes	Yes?	presence?
Mumble	Yes	No?	Yes?
WebRTC

Central Registry?

Apart from technical problems with free Skype replacements, there is a "network effect" problem preventing free protocols (and clients) becoming popular. This might be solved by ...?

Free clients

Lists exist already:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SIP_software
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_(protocol)
• http://xmpp.org/xmpp-software/clients/

Do we need more info? If so it can go here.

	SIP?	XMPP/Jingle?	Mumble?	Active development?	Platforms	License	Notes
Jitsi	Yes	Yes	No	Yes?	Java	LGPL
Ekiga	Yes	No?	No	No?	GNU, Windows XP	?
Empathy	Yes	Yes	No	No?	GNU	GPL	GNOME default
Psi
Yate
Mumble	No	No	Yes
Pidgin
Twinkle	Yes	No?	No
Asterisk
sipX

Personal experiences

Ekiga

• I have used Ekiga in the past and had good luck with it, but only with other Ekiga users on GNU/Linux -- Mattl 15:47, 14 May 2012 (EDT)
• Ekiga used to work fine for me on the local network, but failed to connect to another user behind NAT firewall. It does not support UPnP mechanism provided by many modern routers and used by almost every torrent-client and by Skype as well.

Jitsi

• Successfully used to three-way audio-video chat with a pair of Mac users. H.264 only, but VP8 support soon! -- Mattl 15:47, 14 May 2012 (EDT)