Speakerphone for Ubuntu 8.10?

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 07:10:21PM -0500, Tyler Aviss wrote:
> I don't really want to start a flamewar here, but I've been noticing a
> lot of responses like this lately in the list. A well-intended
> suggestion is one thing, but a response such as "what you're using
> sucks, switch to what I'm using" isn't very productive, and doesn't
> really paint the group overall in a good light (these emails becoming
> part of a longer-term archive).

The problems with skype are:

It is closed source.  It also tends to have bugs, and is very rarely
updated for linux.  This combines into something that is very hard to
even get to work on linux in any sort of reliable way.  It works for
some and not others.

Looking at skype from the network's point of view, it is a nightmare for
an admin to deal with on their network, because it acts just like a peer
to peer file sharing system.  None of the standard based systems do.

> I'm not about to volunteer myself as a list-PR-overlord, but it would
> be nice if people would perhaps consider slightly more constructive
> way of going about things.

Sometimes the most contructive way is to be honest and realistic.  Skype
is very much a company trying to get vendor lockin on all VoIP in the
world if they can get away with it, and they aren't doing it for the
sake of the users.  They are also doing it in a way that is bad for
networks.

> People having varying preferences, and varying amounts of time to try
> new ideas, so when they're asking for "suggestions on using X" I don't
> think that "X sucks, dump it and use Y" is overly constructive.

Having had to deal with skype users, I stand by my opinion 100%.  Skype
should be exterminated.  There are few applications I hate enough to say
that.

-- 
Len Sorensen
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