[Asterisk-Dev] A crazy idea... Skype channel in Asterisk

Benjamin on Asterisk Mailing Lists benjk.on.asterisk.ml at gmail.com
Tue Oct 19 05:57:48 MST 2004


On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 13:10:27 +0100, Chris Lee
<cslee-list at cybericom.co.uk> wrote:

> Where Skype wins customers is ease of use;

I have to disagree there.

Where Skype wins customers is hype. SKYPE = HYPE.

Also, don't confuse the protocol with the client application. It would
seem that you are talking about the client application when you say
"ease of use". However, Firefly or Apple's iChat are just as much ease
of use as the Skype client is.

> IAX still needs a centrally administered server - Asterisk.

You've got it upside down. You can call peer-to-peer with IAX. You
cannot with Skype. Skype needs Skype servers (hardcoded "supernodes"
in the Skype code). IAX needs no such thing.

> If "IAX over peer-to-peer" and "Client plugins" for the popular IM
> products out there were to be produced;

Well, I agree on the plug-ins. It would be very helpful if there was a
helper that could be called by a web browser so people could put an
"IAX address" on their website, something like a SIP URL along the
lines of

iax:fred at flintstones.com

then when you click on that, the helper would do either of two things:

- launch your IAX softphone and instruct it to dial Fred at
Flintstones using IAX

- talk to your Asterisk server and initiate the call, then to be
bridged to your phone.

depending on how the preferences of the helper have been defined.


Someone else mentioned interoperability with Gnomemeeting. Since
Gnomemeeting is open source, it would be possible to create a
plugin/module for it that teaches it how to speak IAX.

As far as the other services are concerned, we only have to make
ourselves heard. I said this before: we are not a small minority
anymore. There are quite a few thousand folks on the Asterisk mailing
lists. We do have a voice. All we have to do is use it.

Of course there is little point asking Microsoft to support IAX in MSN
messenger, but how about Yahoo? How about AOL and Apple? If we all
send those guys email asking for IAX support, they won't jump at it
right away, but it won't be ignored either. Somebody will be tasked
with finding out what "this IAX thing" is all about and then one thing
could lead to another.

That's why I say, let's not waste our time with Skype; Instead let's
put the effort into lobbying for IAX. When was the last time you told
your phone supplier that what you *really* want is an IAX phone?! When
was the last time you sent an email to Yahoo, AOL or Apple to tell
them that what you *really* want is a chat client with IAX support?!
So, why don't you invest five minutes of your time and do that right
now?

rgds
benjk

-- 
Sunrise Telephone Systems, 9F Shibuya Daikyo Bldg., 1-13-5 Shibuya,
Tokyo, Japan.

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