[kwlug-disc] Skype (replacement)

Ron Singh ronsingh149 at gmail.com
Sun Nov 26 00:29:28 EST 2017


Hence my apology for the rant below. I should have been a bit more
complete, my video comms are with folks up to 81 yo speaking English,
German, Lowlands German, Spanish and Guarani. A real PITA reaching out to
these folks in Brasil, Paraguay, Germany and Mexico and asking them to
change over to another video messaging platform, especially when I(Linux
platform) I am the most affected.

The Wire looks real promising, had no idea it existed, presumably all the
red before my eyes, mebbe?

Now to figure how to get them folks to change over. Thanks for the heads up
Keefer C. Rourke, and your feedback on it. I will go play.



Thanks,

Ron Singh
"in transit, via mobile comm device"

On Sat, Nov 25, 2017 at 11:11 PM, Keefer Rourke <mail at krourke.org> 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"
>>>
>>
>>
> --
> Regards,
> Keefer C. Rourke
>
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>
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