[kwlug-disc] Skype (replacement)

Sun Nov 26 15:24:27 EST 2017

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We were just talking about Wire at the KWVoIP meeting last Thursday
(hi Ron!). When I announced on Twitter that we'd be discussing
Wire[1], @Wire immediately offered to provide support. Unfortunately,
the conversation at KWVoIP was so interesting that we didn't actually
get around to using Wire at the meeting.

Wire is at least as good as Skype, since it was created by the
original two Skype developers.  There are some quirky UI choices tho,
including some mystery-meat navigation (onscreen widgets are invisible
until you hover the mouse over them -- but how to find them in the
first place?) There's no integration with the PSTN (yet).

I'm using Wire, my userID is @BobJonkman -- feel free to add me to a
conversation group. I'm currently in groups with people from KWVoIP
and the !Fediverse

Source code for many client platforms and the server is available at
https://github.com/wireapp although a blog post[2] indicates that
self-hosting isn't available yet (I haven't tried). Federation is
promised for early in 2018, where one server instance can connect to
another and everyone can run their own. Perhaps what they meant is
that self-hosted instances can't yet communicate with others.

- --Bob.

[1] https://twitter.com/wire/status/933819857916874752

[2]
https://medium.com/@wireapp/open-sourcing-wire-server-code-ef7866a731d5

On 2017-11-25 11:11 PM, Keefer Rourke wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> While it's all well and good to rant about proprietary software, 
> it's better to find replacements and encourage others to make the 
> switch as well. Skype on a whole is pretty crappy software, and
> its famous for crappy call quality.
> 
> One such replacement was mentioned (Discord) which is also 
> proprietary and mostly focused at gamer audio chat... but a better 
> anologue to Skype may be Wire [1].
> 
> Wire has open-source clients on all major platforms, is Linux 
> friendly (distro-agnostic with AppImage), easy to use, and has 
> excellent call quality. They also just recently open-sourced their 
> server [2] and will be providing self-hosting instructions soon! 
> Their hosted version is quite fine though and I've never really
> had a problem with call quality, video is usually crisp (network 
> allowing), audio never falters, etc.
> 
> I've completely replaced Skype with it, and convincing others to 
> switch isn't hard either (usually people tend to be pretty 
> accommodating if they know there are issues with some software 
> platform or another, and signing up for another account these days 
> is just something people tend to do without thinking anyway).
> 
> Links: [1] https://wire.com/en [2] 
> https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server
> 
> 
> On November 25, 2017 8:00:10 PM EST, Ron Singh 
> <ronsingh149 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Look at this GEM of a response from an MS tech staff -- "Rhiza_E
>>  
>> <https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/profile/91e5e6e6-2254-4182-9537-93fbc222b012>
>>
>>
>> 
replied
>> on Microsoft
>> 
>> Hi 52ROSt,
>> 
>> Apparently, automatic log in when your PC starts is not
>> supported in the new Skype for Windows, Mac and Linux - you
>> always have to log in with your Skype account credentials.
>> Meanwhile, you can share us your feedback here. 
>> <https://go.skype.com/feedback?lang=en&tag=The%20new%20Skype%20for%20Windows,%20Mac%20and%20Linux&p=-2&e=FA34778>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 
Please let us know if you have other questions.
>> Rhiza_E Skype Community Moderator
>> 
>> How it is possible for any company to release a version that is
>>  essentially broken is so many ways is really quite beyond me. 
>> Yep, even on the 5.5 Beta, one has to punch in one's sudo 
>> password (key ring) before Skype will login.
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Ron Singh "in transit, via mobile comm device"
>> 
>> On Sat, Nov 25, 2017 at 6:43 PM, Ron Singh 
>> <ronsingh149 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> I use Skype a lot.
>>> 
>>> I depend on Skype for video comm with my kin,  with clients
>>> and IT suppliers.
>>> 
>>> On Windows, Skype 5.x was excellent in terms of reliability, 
>>> clean
>> layout
>>> and easy of use. I ditched Windows some 10 months ago and went 
>>> all Linux, using Skype
>> 4.3
>>> sourced from LM's software repo On Linux, Skype 4.3 was 
>>> excellent in terms of reliability, clean
>> layout
>>> and easy of use.. On Linux, Skype 5.x BETA was barely 
>>> acceptable in terms of
>> reliability,
>>> clean layout and easy of use..
>>> 
>>> I did the upgrade to Skype 8.11(X220 laptop with LM 18.1 Xfce)
>> yesterday
>>> and man, that was just a huge mistake -- issues pop up with 
>>> many much-needed configuration features removed.
>>> 
>>> Most tellingly, upon boot-up and launching Skype 8.11, only 
>>> the
>> outline of
>>> Skype can be seen on the desktop, nothing can be clicked on 
>>> since the outline just showed the contents of one's desktop. 
>>> Only on minimizing
>> to
>>> tray and then un-minimizing or full-screening will bring up 
>>> the
>> proper
>>> "Open Skype" page in all it's glory.
>>> 
>>> I decided to purge the laptop of Skype 8.11 and tried again on 
>>> other laptops running LM 18.1, LM18.2 and Fedora 27, same 
>>> thing. Same
>> issue.
>>> I have used old firmware, new firmware, 4.4LTS, 4.11, 4.13 
>>> kernels,
>> but
>>> yeah, same thing, same issue. Every OS tried was a bare metal 
>>> install, no VMs involved.
>>> 
>>> Through tear-filled eyes full of rage, I grabbed the 5.5.0.1
>> SkypeforLinux
>>> Beta from here: 
>>> https://repo.skype.com/deb/pool/main/s/skypeforlinux/ and 
>>> re-installed 5.5 Skype and now I am able to usefully Skype my
>> behind
>>> off again, feebly trying to ignore it's tablet-y interface.
>>> 
>>> In a perfect world, I would ditch Skype and use something like
>> Discord and
>>> get on with it, but I need to communicate with with over 2 
>>> dozen
>> folks via
>>> video-chat and the only common denominator for them all is 
>>> Skype.
>> Sure
>>> looks like nothing like this exists or will ever exist.
>>> 
>>> In an even more perfect world, MS would release the 
>>> SkypeforLinux
>> source
>>> to be worked on by the Linux community, but that's for an 
>>> alternate
>> reality.
>>> 
>>> Sorry about the rant, just wanted to sound off a bit.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Ron Singh " calming down with a glass of win"
>>> 
> 
> 
> 
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- -- 
Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>          Phone: +1-519-635-9413
SOBAC Microcomputer Services             http://sobac.com/sobac/
Software   ---   Office & Business Automation   ---   Consulting
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