[asterisk-users] Sangoma vs Digium: (was Re: ping too)

Fri Oct 5 10:32:47 CDT 2007

This is really a silly debate.

I used to buy Digium products until they let me down with all kinds of 
quirky behavior with regards to echo, clicks, "incompatible 
motherboards" and IRQ issues.

I read all the success and praises of Sangoma on this list and thought I 
would give them a try.  Guess what?  I have had none of the above issues 
since going Sangoma.

Digium products actually lost me money and reputation.  Many small 
business owners talk in their little circles.  Do you think that a 
business owner is going to sing praises of a system that exhibits all 
sorts of annoying audio issues?  I bet they will if they get an Asterisk 
system that has perfect audio (ie referrals for me = more money).

Do you think a small business owner is going to be satisfied with audio 
problems?  Nope.  That means more time going back to the site 
(gas+time+money lost from not doing something else) or remote which 
gives the consumer less of a warm fuzzy feeling but saves me gas and a 
little time.

As far as I know, most of the Asterisk code has come from the community 
who have done the work and signed over their rights to Digium.  Maybe 
someone can correct me there, I really don't know.

I do what is best for my customers and myself, and if that means 
Sangoma, then so be it.  My allegiance is to nobody but us as far as a 
phone system goes.

In fact, I have steered certain companies away from Asterisk and sold 
and installed 3com V3000s because I knew they would not be happy with 
anything less.

Asterisk is vendor neutral opensource software (supposed to be anyways). 
  The more corporate  it goes, the more backlash you will see, forks are 
inevitable when Digium employees are posting to the lists in anger.

Anyways, maybe Sangoma has actually done Digium and the Asterisk 
community a HUGE favor by upping the bar as far as hardware goes.  It 
has been some time since I have used Digium products, that they very 
well might be on par with Sangoma now.

Can anyone that has used both recently confirm this (unbiased of course).

Thanks,
Steve Totaro

Matthew Fredrickson wrote:
> Brian West wrote:
>> Sangoma has contributed to Asterisk in the past and they still do.  They 
>> also have contributed to Yate, FreeSWITCH and various other software 
>> that is capable of using their hardware.  This argument of Digium vs 
>> Sangoma is very emotional for some.  I see it as competition is good and 
>> drives innovation.  Digium can't take every bit of credit for Asterisk, 
>> you have to remember the community has a large part in making Asterisk 
>> as popular as it is.  I know their is hostility directed at anyone that 
>> uses non-Digium hardware by some folks and their shouldn't be.  Its an 
>> open market and an open platform.  Rhino makes hardware that plugs into 
>> zaptel but yet I don't see their drivers in the zaptel repo... I don't 
>> see many of the third party hardware drivers in the zaptel repo.
> 
> Not to ignite any fires, but I don't think I've *ever* knowingly 
> received a patch to libpri or chan_zap from them.  And I've fixed a few 
> protocol related bugs in libpri for people with Sangoma cards.  It'd be 
> nice if they at the very least supported the protocol stacks and zaptel 
> channel driver they use to make money off their cards.
> 
> Matthew Fredrickson
> 
>>
>> /b
>> On Oct 5, 2007, at 7:51 AM, Steve Murphy wrote:
>>
>>> Oh, Julian, I'd imagine what I'm about to say will fuel some flames!
>>>
>>> Here's a fairly powerful argument for all you asterisk users, as to why
>>> you
>>> should purchase a Digium product vs. a Sangoma: Because Digium uses a
>>> chunk
>>> of the purchase money to support Asterisk. And Sangoma DOES NOT. Digium
>>> employs
>>> several developers specifically to maintain and improve Asterisk.
>>> Sangoma DOES NOT. While they may maintain and improve their own versions
>>> of the various drivers, THEY DO NOT SHARE THEIR SOFTWARE. Matt F. told
>>> me last week we haven't seen ANYTHING from them for a LONG TIME, with
>>> respect to the zaptel drivers. If they have been contributing patches,
>>> they are disguising their association with Sangoma.
>>>
>>> Don't get me wrong. I AM a Digium employee! A software Developer to be
>>> specific,
>>> an Asterisk developer to be precise. So, I AM highly biased towards
>>> Digium!
>>>
>>> Digium has a harder job than Sangoma with respect to Asterisk. While
>>> Digium
>>> takes a chunk of its revenue, and uses it to maintain and improve
>>> Asterisk (not just the drivers), Sangoma doesn't, and it gives them a
>>> competitive edge.
>>>
>>> So, for all you folks who have bought Digium, I personally thank you!
>>> You have helped Asterisk, and you have personally helped ME. If you have
>>> long-range business or interest in Asterisk, you are indirectly
>>> contributing to its growth and improvement when you buy Digium products
>>> & services.
>>>
>>> murf
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Steve Murphy
>>> Software Developer
>>> Digium
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>>
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