Cross-Platform Video Chat For Linux? 338
Ethan1701 writes "Some of my friends are using iChat to stay in touch and gap the distance of the Atlantic. I'm feeling left out on my Fedora Gnome based desktop. Is there a good program for Gnome that provides cross-platform instant messaging and video chat? This rules out Skype and aMSN, as well as any other app that's specific for the ICQ/AOL Network. Kopete is for KDE. Pidgin doesn't intend to develop video-chat, I haven't found a plugin for it that provides video, and Gaim-vv hasn't been developed in over two years and is so out of date that it's still going by Gaim and not Pidgin. Do Slashdot readers have an application that meets these needs? Maybe even one that surpasses iChat?"
Re:Patience (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, personally, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot barge pole. Getting text to work with these stupid undocumented protocols is hard enough. I imagine getting video to work is pulling your hair out work.
Re:The Kludge (Score:2, Insightful)
You could always RDP or VNC to your Windows box
What windows box?
Feeling left out (Score:5, Insightful)
Congratulations, you've just comprehended the whole of Apple's advertising strategy.
Re:Skype (Score:5, Insightful)
Skype works fine in Linux, with Video.
I use it all the time (with video) on my Acer Aspire One (similar to the Asus EEE) with Linpus Linux (which is a Fedora deriverative running XFCE).
I have also used it in Ubuntu and Kubuntu with video, without problems.
I'm still not sure the OP's gripe with Skype.
Kopete is for KDE. (Score:5, Insightful)
So what? It will work fine (though I don't know that it will do waht you want). It just won't match the rest of your desktop. With few exceptions KDE applications work fine on a Gnome "desktop" and vice-versa.
Re:any idea how many times ive seen that phrase? (Score:4, Insightful)
how about if you bring your car to my mechanic shop. you say 'can i convert it to hybrid'. i say, 'well, no, but there are guys up in washington state who sell conversion kits'. 'is there a kit for my car'. 'well, no but, if we take a transmission just like yours and send it to them, they can fabricate a coupler.' "ok what about the battery box". 'well, thats in progress'.
Are you doing all this for me for free? If so, I should say "thank you" and not fucking complain.
Re:Skype (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also compatible with nothing else, all code are unknown and it's proprietary like shit. Also you will have no idea what happens on the network and your communications is sent over P2P.
Greeeeat!!! / Tony.
You can Get a Mac. (Score:3, Insightful)
There is always an option of Getting a Mac. Sometimes sticking to your guns on some moral high ground has a cost as well. But depending on the technical level of your friends having them run an App so you can join in too may not work. As they may not use it. THey may be using iChat for AIM talking then they need to switch to a different app Which may not be as nice as iChat to talk to you. Will probably just become you doing a text chat while the others are using iChat for video. The more people you convince to use a different app the harder it gets.
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:5, Insightful)
Your example is flawed. If someone says:
"there is a nail sticking out of the floor"
that's fine. But when someone says:
"it is completely unacceptable of you to have left this nail sticking out of the floor"
then the only acceptable response from the builder who provided the house for free is:
"go fuck yourself whiner"
In fact, a builder who had provided a house for free and just got complaints for his efforts would just stop building houses for free and that's what happens with many open source developers too. Which is why the rest of us, who are quite thankful for the selfless efforts of others, are standing there telling the whiner to shut the fuck up.
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:3, Insightful)
Who is doing that? Exactly? Can you point to a specific person?
Seems to me what really happens is that fanbois tout the superiority of their infatuation and then the developers cop the shit from people who can't tell the difference between who is speaking.
If you like the software, use it. If you want to be constructive and improve the software, you're welcome. If you just want to whine and complain, people are going to tell you to fuck right off..
Re:Skype (Score:3, Insightful)
Imho it's the worst kind of IM client there is, except it works.
/begin{flamebait} /end{flamebait}
And this is precisely what's annoying with people that put principle ahead of practicality. Software is instructions for a computer to do a useful task, not a platform for grand theoretical bullshit. It exists precisely for the purpose of working. If it doesn't work for the intended purpose (e.g. DRM-encumbered nonsense), it's not useful software. If it does work, I give less than a shit about the other attributes.
Re:Skype (Score:4, Insightful)
Many people in China really like the controls on internet access that exist here.
And others don't like the control of the net in China. Thousands there were protesting. Heck a reporter, working for CNN I think, was detained when he was reporting on some protesters. Others find ways around the filters. Just because some have no problem with the Great Firewall of China [google.com] doesn't mean others don't have a problem with it.
She was very skeptical of the unrestricted access that exists in the west with concerns that it would be easy to be lied to if you have no way if knowing who you are talking to.
I'd ask if her if she thought lies couldn't be told with government control. The government could lie all it wants if it controls all media. A free press supposed to be one of the checks on government.
Falcon
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a little more akin to your friend calling you up and saying:
FREE BEER AT THE PUB... sure it's crappy beer, but it's free.
And then you go drink it anyway.
That's the better analogy to poor FOSS.
None of the software is "snuck" up on you and you're always free to remove it.
That's VERY different for commercial software, where, often once you have paid, you can't un-pay.
And that sucks.
Re:Ekiga (Score:3, Insightful)
The cross-platform requirement just doesn't seem to make sense. That's what standards are for.
Re:Skype (Score:4, Insightful)
Please be kind enough and show us something that has an open protocol, works as p2p, not proprietary, has 12 million people online and is not being blocked/traffic shaped by your ISP ?
Just maybe, i mean really, just maybe, there is a reason why skype doesn't want everyone on their cake party ?
You also have the option to check out msn's protocol which horribly abused by bots to spread scam and malware, or take a peek at most open source chat clients who's userbase is comparable with the number of students in some major college.
I just see why skype does things the way it does, i'm not saying that it's 100% right, but it is one of the best options out there today.
Re:Ekiga (Score:5, Insightful)
Some of these (Ekiga at least), use open protocols that allow interoperation with people using different clients on other platforms, some are cross-platform themselves (Ekiga, Skype), some use propreitray protocols to allow inter-operation (aMSN, GYachi).
If you ask a question, state what the actual problem is!
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:5, Insightful)
OK, here's my counter-counter-analogy.
A friend of yours gives you a toy that he made himself, for you to give to your kid. Unfortunately, the toy consists partially of broken glass, rusty nails, and a rabid badger. You smile, nod, and say "thank you," and as soon as your friend isn't looking, toss the toy into the rubbish bin.
A week later, you're talking to some friends and say, "you know, I really need to get a toy for my kid. He's bored of his old one, and he needs something for his next stage in cognitive development." The friend of yours who gave you the glass and nails and badger... thing... happens to be walking by, overhears you, and says, "well, what was wrong with the wonderful toy I gave him last week? I put a lot of time and energy into it!" You say, "I really don't want a lacerated, tetanus-infected rabid kid, but thanks anyway." Your friend says, "you damn ingrate! Go f*** yourself!" and walks away in a huff.
Um, that's what this is like.
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe you should lay off the crack.
Re:Skype (Score:3, Insightful)
``Please be kind enough and show us something that has an open protocol, works as p2p, not proprietary, has 12 million people online and is not being blocked/traffic shaped by your ISP ?''
Why all those requirements? I thought we were talking about video chat and not leaving people out. The best way I know to accomplish that is to use an open protocol that does video chat. The requirement for doing video chat should be obvious. The requirement for openness is so that nobody is left out. Because that's what closed protocols do: they lock people out.
I don't see any reason for your requirements of "p2p" and "12 million people online", and, well, not being blocked by your ISP is certainly a must-have feature, but not something the protocol can enforce. The same goes for the number of users, of course: what users end up using is their decision, and, by and large, that seems to be Skype.
``Just maybe, i mean really, just maybe, there is a reason why skype doesn't want everyone on their cake party ?''
I am sure there is. If I were to guess, I would say that, by keeping their protocol closed, they retain control. By retaining control, they can make money. But I am not interested in whether or not some company I don't own makes money. I am interested in freedom of choice and interoperability. I promote open standards because they enable people to choose the software they want, or write their own if they don't like any of the existing software. I don't want people to be locked into using software that has been blessed by some company.
``I just see why skype does things the way it does, i'm not saying that it's 100% right, but it is one of the best options out there today.''
Perhaps, for some definition of "best". I am sad to see how popular Skype has gotten, though. Video chat using open standards was there long before Skype started doing video chat. In fact, it was there before Skype even existed. I wish people had stuck with the open standards, rather than making the founders of Skype millionaires for getting the world locked into yet another proprietary protocol.
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:1, Insightful)
There are many people in the FOSS community - especially here on slashdot - who insinuate that "proprietary" software is immoral, and that those who use it are immoral. (Or at least are furthering an immoral cause. And isn't that immoral in itself?)
Then you tell me to fuck myself when I complain about failures in this software you argue I'm morally bound to use?
No sir, fuck you.
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:3, Insightful)
Life endangering toy.
'Broken' instant messaging software.
Not the same thing.
Re:Patience (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:2, Insightful)
Sorry, but your analogy is completely fucking wrong. The base gripe here is apparently that people are complaining because Pidgin, an instant messaging program, doesn't have voice/video capabilities. So let's make a different analogy, going back to the original one about building a free house:
If someone says, "this house doesn't have a garage" that's fine.
But if someone says, "it is completely unacceptable that you built this house without a garage," then the only acceptable response from the builder who built the house for FREE is "go fuck yourself whiner."
Relating Pidgin's lack of voice/video support to having some nail sticking up in a house is just wrong. That implies that there's something wrong. Saying it is missing something is another thing altogether... as long as those requesting the feature understand that the developers are working on it FOR FREE.