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Gizmo Project

by Volker Weber

Same codec as Skype, but Gizmo uses SIP to establish a call. Maybe too little too late.

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Phonegaim seems to be similar: http://sipphone.com/phonegaim/

But I agree they are too late. As long as I cannot call Skype from Gizmo or Phonegaim I won't use it. Maybe it is kind of annoying that Skype is not Opensource, the protocol is proprietary and they are en route to become a new monopolist in this market, but the others were too slow.

The record function is interesting. That's a feature I miss at Skype.

And conference calls are unlimited in size. Maybe the tool is however not as bad as I thought.

Gizmo's main claim to fame is that it uses the SIP standard. One of the main critisims of Skype is that it uses a propriatary technology, but this is one of the reasons that I am a Skype fan.

I started out with several SIP providers, including getting a local number with Sipgate. I had nothing but trouble getting it to work through the various routers I used as I moved around. Basically, SIP is okay if you have a dedicated user and location, setting everything up to work once. It is useless for road warriors or multiple users behind a router. Skype seems to always find a way out and works completely hassle-free.

Mitch

Mitch, that's only half of the truth. One other reason for Skype being so poular is that Skype doesn't single-mindedly focus on Audio transmissions but instead allows you to send instant messages and files, too. I find myself using these parts of Skype much more often than I'm actually talking to someone. Also this allows you to use Skype in low bandwith environments and on machines that aren't equipped with sound card and/or microphone. Drop in the fact that Skype is really easy to set up and use, especially compared to every single SIP application out there I know of, and you know exactly why Skype is so popular. It comes very close to being a "personal communications hub".

My personal communication hub (on windows at least) is Trillian, it's got a wrapper for Skype as well, so it's pure bliss :)

And while I agree that Skpy isnt as open as they could be, I have to admit that their product just did it right from the start.

Stefan, there are several other reasons I like Skype, but I was just focusing on the SIP vs. propriatary issue that Gizmo is using to position themselves against Skype.

Mitch

But that track of argumentation by Gizmo in my eyes is utter nonsense. Gizmo is using the same proprietary audio engine that is used by Skype. The fact that they're using an open protocol to transport the payload doesn't make a real difference as long as you have to use the codec from Global IP Sound, I'd say.

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vowe.net is a personal website published by Volker Weber a.k.a. vowe. I am an author, consultant and systems architect based in Darmstadt, Germany.

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