We are again coding hard on the future 1.2 release of GnomeMeeting.
There will be more internal changes than user-visible changes, but we
are paving the way for SIP.
People are often asking me what I think of Skype. What I think is pretty
clear...
The main problem is not that the program is not Open Source, the problem
is that Skype is locking users into a proprietary protocol. Would you
imagine the Internet with a proprietary equivalent to the HTTP protocol
that only a given client could browse? That's what happens with Skype.
Skype also has a great marketing force, some people even think that
Skype has a superior audio quality. How could Skype have a superior
quality when it is using the same codec (iLBC) than software like
GnomeMeeting while introducing more latency by making calls go through a
3rd party? The only real advantage of Skype is that it is easily going
through any type of NAT, using a 3rd user to proxy the call. But the day
when the Linux kernel NAT will natively support H.323 or SIP, Skype will
have lost its only advantage... Skype is hype...