http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/3554/
I have a friend that recently tried Ubuntu, and ended up going back to Windows (disappointed as he was). Well, he couldn't make any voicechat trough YahooChat (Pidgin), or aMSN.

So this is something that should be taken care of

[1220 votes] Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #3554


]]> en-us Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:02:14 +0000 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:09:36 +0000 QAPoll module http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/3554/ http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/164/
]]> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:26:26 +0000
By voice / webcam, I mean separate functions. Webcam (with voice of course) is one of them.

Voice call, does not necessary include webcam. By voice call, I mean Voip.. Like skype..

And yeah, I know you have skype for linux, but thats not the point in this matter :) ]]> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:05:34 +0000 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:32:05 +0000 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:09:15 +0000 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:19:48 +0000 He is an immigrant from Palestina (now he's here in Norway), and mostly use yahoo and msn to keep in touch with family and friends.

So put yourself in the same situation, and see if you become a muppet too..

We all have different destinies here. Lets not judge too quick.]]> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:23:15 +0000
In windows, it took 20 minutes to install the driver, and nearly an hour to install all the additional software.

I hear that these results are typical with the Creative line of webcams, and with the Logitech Quickcam. It would be nice to see more development on different webcam drivers, though.]]> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:58:46 +0000 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:13:28 +0000
But when I googled for Voip for yahoo, I saw that (on several forums) this is not implemented, and developers really didn't want to to use their time making this work. The response was pretty much that they didn't find it necessary, and that there already was software like skype and Ekiga out there...

I disagree with them, but I am only looking at it from a user point of view, so there is not much I can do about it. Except from posting it here :) ]]> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:19:33 +0000
It's already been reported to the Pidgin team. The problem is, that there just doesn't seem to be anyone that interested in developing it.]]> Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:42:11 +0000 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:43:28 +0000 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:54:30 +0000 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:03:11 +0000 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:20:47 +0000
http://www.cofundos.org/project.php?id=89

]]> Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:51:10 +0000 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:55:17 +0000 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:53:25 +0000
I can't convinced my sister to use ubuntu because she wanted to have voice chat with his boyfriend like in Windows live messenger.]]> Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:08:47 +0000 +1 from me, if it is implemented in all major messenger programs (specially Kopete).]]> Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:15:26 +0000 He is an immigrant from Palestina (now he's here in Norway), and mostly use yahoo and msn to keep in touch with family and friends.

So put yourself in the same situation, and see if you become a muppet too..

We all have different destinies here. Lets not judge too quick.



Oh whats that i hear in the background? Oh i know its violins :p]]> Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:27:00 +0000
As for the "this isnt an Ubuntu issue" comments. I agree. But ultimately it's Ubuntu's loss if users dont switch because it cant offer them what they want. They should be using their resources to sponsor key applications, especially key "switcher" applications. Pidgin is a key switcher application.

Whether you like it or not, IM is probably the most used function of a computer for young people besides web browsing. ]]> Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:57:11 +0000 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:15:16 +0000 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:32:24 +0000
I think the combination of a IM client and a videophone is much more logical. One could just click on a contact to set up a videophonecall.

Webcams and IM are just 100% unrelated IMO though.]]> Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:05:01 +0000
I've been a on-and-off Linux user since '95 and I think that, with the gaming issue not set to be solved any time soon, the lack of good voice/video communication software is set to be the biggest hurdle to expand Ubuntu market share in particular and Linux market share in general.
]]> Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:04:03 +0000 Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:21:11 +0000
I have never had much belief in multi-network IM's. What would be required would be separate, but full-fledged IM programs for each network, by full fledged I mean full support for Voice, Video + Others (like nudges, offline messaging, winks...for msn for e.g)

-emesene seems a good candidate for msn network (gtk app) altho it needs to grow up
-xchat is perfect for irc
-etc

pidgin should have been kicked since long ago, i wonder why they have it.
the problem with amsn or even mercury im is that they are non-gtk + written in tcl/java, hence do not integrate well.]]> Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:54:19 +0000
It would be better to encourage people to stick to the standards (jabber/voip) and make them easier to use. Maybe integrate Pidgin/Kopete/Empathy with Ekiga or some other voip client to make this happen with standard protocols.

As for supporting the additional features in MSN/AIM such as voice calls and video and whatnot is a wast of time IMHO, because you would need to reverse engineer much of it only to have them change the specs to cut you off.

The solution to that problem is making them work with Wine. So if you absolutely want/need proprietary stuff you can use the original programs. Easy Wine integration of the most popular Windows programs is the answer here, not wasting time.]]> Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:24:52 +0000 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:27:36 +0000 Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:27:07 +0000
Unless all of this webcam work is going to get put in a generic library/framework then focusing on specific programX or programY is a short-sighted way of doing this.

I think the core of this idea makes sense. Perhaps Canonical, could look at sponsoring development/lobbying time to get more *drivers* for webcams.]]> Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:40:24 +0000 Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:06:33 +0000
Is it an ubuntu problem? Not directly, but it has a significant effect. The lack of a communication feature is a valid reason to move program, and if a suitable alternative is not available on the OS, it is a big problem.

Pidgin is good to a point, but ugly, soo ugly and clunky. I understand there ethos for keeping it simple, but urugh. The have though split the project up in to different sections which is good.

I would say:

1) Promote Jabber - it works, it's good, it's directly linkable to googlechat.

2) Accept that not everybody will `see the light' and MSN will remain popular and thus work towards some compatibility either by.

a) Making it easy to run MSNM (or whatever they now call it) . And by easy, I mean idiot proof.

and / or

b-1) Promote Pidgin or suitable alternative and put some work into getting it to work.

and

b-2) Put together a nice front end that doesn't take the whole screen up. (think trillian. [For my personal preference, trillian + microscopic pro skin I know it is out of date])]]> Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:13:25 +0000
If you want to contribute you can check these projects:

Telepathy (for the IM framework) ]]> Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:11:30 +0000 Empathy (Telepathy Client)
Farsight (Audio/Video framework)
GStreamer (Multimedia framework)
pymsn (MSN library)
telepathy-butterfly (Telepathy module using pymsn)
telepathy-haze (Telepathy module using libpurple)

My project is msn-pecan that currently provides an MSN plugin for libpurple (Pidgin, telepathy-haze) but eventually might be a standalone library and provide a Telepathy module.]]> Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:14:50 +0000 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:29:42 +0000
TO DO THIS:
Add all the kool/extra features like Video/Voice chat to JUST the OPEN STANDARDS, like Jabber/Gtalk.

More people would move to Open Standards if all the kool features were just for it in Apps like Pidgin. :)]]> Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:01:19 +0000 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:25:11 +0000
I've saddly enough the same experience with my girlfriends sister, some friends and even between myself and my parents.
]]> Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:14:19 +0000 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:17:36 +0000
"Easy Wine integration of the most popular Windows programs is the answer here, not wasting time."

Good point!]]> Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:28:59 +0000 Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:38:56 +0000
it just works...
If only pidgin DEVs stopped that attitude: "We dont use VoIP, so we wont spend time making it work for pidgin!"]]> Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:39:12 +0000
Can't the Pidgin guys make a team or talk about the webcam/voice part on yahoo with the GyachI folks?
Their program works wonderfully well(excepting the suckyest interface on the world,of course)

With a bit of redesign,GyachI could be a real competitor to IM programs,but until then,it may be possible to integrate the GYachI voice and webcam part to libpurple or something.

I ain't really into programming,and don't really know if this is applicable,but it may be a solution ]]> Thu, 01 May 2008 21:58:14 +0000 Yes Skype has webcam support for Linux. I have used it, and it works fine, maybe you should try it too.]]> Wed, 14 May 2008 23:47:45 +0000
Ekiga is under heavy changes. We are close to release a beta for version 3.0.

Ekiga use the standard protocol SIP. It can use the best standard video codec: H.264 (HD).

Screenshot: http://blog.ekiga.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/ekiga3_video.png
Easy install of our current work (.deb packages): http://snapshots.ekiga.net/

Best regards,
Yannick ]]> Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:27:26 +0000