[Asterisk-Users] Gizmo: Skype done right?

[Jerry Glomph Black]

I've just submitted this as a Slashdot story, too.
I have absolutely no connection with any of the principals, I just think they
are doing the right thing.   This could have a major impact on the Asterisk
community, and VoIP usage in general.

Michael Robertson, of mp3.com fame, has been battling for open standards in the
IP telephony world, in addition to his better-known Lindows (now Linspire, at
http://www.linspire.com) venture to promote Linux on the desktop.  His
sipphone.com VoIP operation works great for me, but Michael has been long
concerned about the totally closed and proprietary nature of Skype (as well as a
lot of the misleading hype surrounding it).

Today his crew released "Gizmo" (at "http://www.gizmoproject.com) (a tentative
name until a better one is found) which has the main benefits of Skype, PLUS it
is layered upon SIP, DUNDI, and the existing sipphone.com infrastructure,
meaning it is fully interconnectable to the world by obvious and nonobvious
techniques, Asterisk being on the top of the obvious charts...  This is
certainly what I've been waiting for, being totally cheesed by the smarminess of
Skype and its founders. "Open Standards" is one of the most abused concepts this
side of Lake Washington, but this comes pretty damn close!