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Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal)
A Linux-compatible open-source Skype VOIP client is in the works,
according to
this article
on Linux Journal.
"Some have questioned why the move should be of particular import, given the variety of Linux-compatible VOIP options already available. The most obvious is, fittingly enough, the news itself: Skype will have an Open Source client. Regardless of the market, number of users, or general usefulness, any time the makers of a proprietary product choose to embrace Open Source, that in itself is an important event. Adding allies to our community is as important as adding products to our systems."
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Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal) Posted Nov 3, 2009 16:32 UTC (Tue) by lolando (subscriber, #7139) [Link]
It appears to only be about open-sourcing the UI part, according to comments #3 and #6 of http://share.skype.com/sites/linux/2009/11/skype_open_sou...
Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal) Posted Nov 3, 2009 17:06 UTC (Tue) by michaeljt (subscriber, #39183) [Link]
Has no one found out enough about the protocol yet to do the rest? And would it be such a problem for Skype if they did? I would have thought that Skype can easily put whatever safety checks their client is currently doing in their servers.
Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal) Posted Nov 3, 2009 22:06 UTC (Tue) by smoogen (subscriber, #97) [Link]
It would seem that the Skype protocol is highly obtuse and cleanly obfuscated that figuring it out has not been easy. It also seems to be updated over time so that those people who have done so found what they had no longer worked after a certain time. Alan Cox has written about why this probably is several times.
Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal) Posted Nov 5, 2009 13:02 UTC (Thu) by Wummel (subscriber, #7591) [Link]
EADS researchers have dissected the protocol some time ago:
http://www.ossir.org/windows/supports/2005/2005-11-07/EAD...
Article about Alan Cox and Skype:
Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal) Posted Nov 3, 2009 17:13 UTC (Tue) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link]
The only useful thing to come out of an open UI is that you can throw away the UI and link, say telepathy (or pidgin), to the protocol libraries directly instead of having to have the Skype UI running at the same time as the telepathy/pidgin plugin.
Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal) Posted Nov 3, 2009 17:20 UTC (Tue) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]
Stories Swirling About Skype's Source (Linux Journal) Posted Nov 3, 2009 17:27 UTC (Tue) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link]
Yep, that will benefit from not having to have the skype UI running.
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