Skype open source
Just a quick update, since we seem to have hit slashdot with this news.
Yes, there’s an open source version of Linux client being developed. This will be a part of larger offering, but we can’t tell you much more about that right now. Having an open source UI will help us get adopted in the “multicultural” land of Linux distributions, as well as on other platforms and will speed up further development. We will update you once more details are available.
When will be open source version for download?
That’s awesome news!
You speak of an “open source UI”.
Does this mean that the protocol will remain closed ? (as most people predict)
Will it be possible to third-party clients to use this closed lib to support the skype protocol ?
Thanks to Joerg for the news
Just want to ask it, but ofaurax was quickier.
good news.
@ofaurax You are correct on all points.
Great news. A step in the right direction. Ofaurax asks the questions we’re all thinking of
ok, great news.
ok, this has to be fantastic news ^^
but i too second ofaurax’s question. will at least the chat protocol open?
Great idea! I think this will cause Skype for Linux’s popularity to explode. Sweeeeet.
That’s awesome!
Skype will remain the best VoIP solution on Linux.
It is either open-source or not. If only UI code will be open with network code closed, it’s not open-source nor free software at all.
So Skype just want community to help them develop UI for free without giving the community anything in return.
Berkus, I have been very critical and vocal in the past about the development of Skype for Linux. But this is excellent news, probably the best that ever came out of Skype.
Keep up the good work!
@mkryshen You are wrong. Skype is and has always been free software. Now we will open source the parts we _can_ open source. I think this is quite a good development.
@berkus why not open source every part of it? What is there to hide?
Please, please, please open source it for Android too.
Please please please don’t forget to include support for 64bit versions from the start and for all supported platforms. (Still can’t use Skype on my 64bit Fedora 11 system)
@sbkg0002 Every company has some IP they don’t want to give up all at once.
Are there any timelines for any of this?
@berkus
I’m impressed Skype got this far becoming open source. Does this mean that other clients could use the aforementioned closed library to add support for Skype? Will a public API be made available for doing such a thing?
When will the open source part be made available? Will it be soon? How soon?
You can guess I’m really looking forward to this
What a joke. AMD are opensourcing their graphics drivers and Skype can’t even opensource a stupid communication protocol. And saying that “Skype always has been free software” is simpy a lie, because in the Linux world, talking about “Free Software” doesn’t have anything to with money.
Still, I acknowledge that you are at least doing a first step to recognise the Linux market.
Hopefully this will make headless Skype on Linux possible. This has been too long in development on your end. It seriously limits how Skype is used, especially on the chat front. Without at least a headless client and later on server API’s, it’s impossible to build real web chat etc solutions based on Skype. Even if the Joltid agreements and other licensing deals do not allow you to open-source everything, you should be able to legally interface at least chat, profiles, friend lists in a non-graphical way. The audio and video parts don’t matter here at all.
Good luck!
@lamestars & sbkg0002
If Skype were only a chat client, or only Skype-to-Skype, then I don’t think there would be a problem. But Skype lets you call actual phone numbers. If they opened up the protocol to the public, there’s a great potential for someone to make their own client that would use Skype’s service to call real phone numbers. That doesn’t sound too bad, until you start thinking about how this could be abused. I’m sure telemarketers would jump all over that. Not to mention Skype would lose all their business, and be forced to pay for bandwidth from people with their own unauthorized clients.
Skype finally has the chance to be awesome on Linux. So stop complaining before Skype changes its mind.
Although Skype never was free-software in the Stallman’s meaning (it was just gratis, not “libre”), I actually see the issue here in very practical terms. Integration of the Skype protocol (even if that remains closed source) with IM clients for linux (Empathy, Ekiga) can only be a good thing for the user. Many of the feature requests in the Skype client have to do with the front end. If the protocol is well designed with a strong open set of APIs, many of the compatibility problems with sound and video would also be easier to deal with. Feature additions will be also more dinamically implemented.
I am sure that is part of the reasons why non-skype specific parts of the client will be opened (Berkus, correct me if I am wrong). After all this is somehow what NVIDIA, and many wireless chipset company do with their Linux drivers.
@ quintesse
Actually skype do run on a 64bit linux distribution.
Try the DEB file here :
http://www.skype.com/intl/fr/download/skype/linux/choose/
does this mean that skype could be included on (k)ubuntu cds?
I gave up on Skype long time ago – because of almost useless client that had problems with ALSA/Pulseaudio. – not to mention the extremly bloated windows client that I feared would be ported to Linux.
this is a step in right direction, allowing Empathy/Pidgin and others to connect/use Skype – would be a reason to use it again..
berkus, this is really awesome news. How is it going to look like? I guess the best way would be to have the client fully open source except for some binary blob which contains Skypes IP. What about a “libskype” which contains the binary blob together some glue code, like the kernel module of the proprietary nVidia driver for instance. The “nv_kernel.o” is the same even among Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD and the glue code whose source is provided is used to “glue” the binary blob to your specific Linux kernel.
Also, if you had something like a “libskype”, alot of IM projects would certainly start to implement a plugin for Skype.
Ah, it would *AWESOME* to use Skype within pidgin and even better if everything necessary would be in even in the distributions package list.
Please, please just do it and make thousands of Linux users HAPPY .
Thanks and Kudos,
Adrian
@bryce.jaggerjack:
That isn’t guaranteed to work on other distros. In fact, the ELF header says that it is a 32-bit binary. My OS can only run 64-bit binaries. Period.
And open sourced client would be wonderful.
@berkus Clearly you don’t understand what free software is. Skype never has been free software and ofaurax is 100% correct that an Open Source UI that requires closed libraries still doesn’t qualify as free software. In order to be free all of the libraries
Making the UI Open Source is a welcome step in the right direction but there is still a long way to go. Hopefully your experience with this project will be a positive one and it will encourage Skype to take the extra steps needed to open the protocol and core libraries as well. After all the real value Skype provides is its service, not its software.
@Skype: Please don’t blame J. for disclosing the news.
He certainly didn’t realized that it was making such a powerful buzz about skype for linux.
He made the most efficient teasing you could dream of
So you’ll be providing a binary-only library blob and an API for writers of GUIs or headless clients? That’s great news.
Will you be providing this library for ARM-linux as well as x86? I’m specifically interested in armv5tel. I know it’s not as simple as a recompile, and you’ve invested a lot of effort in obfuscation for x86, but you already support Nokia tablets and the iPhone – both based on ARM – so an ARM-linux library shouldn’t be too hard…
I’m not interested in the GUI – I prefer a headless server hooked up to a cordless phone, and I’ll write it myself if I have to.
Thanks!
YEEEEEES!!! Finally!.. Thank you so much!
I see some people here are still not quite satisfied, but I believe they shouldn’t think so much about the final goal, but instead recognize the direction.. which is definitely the right one.
Reading these comments, I’m ashamed to be a Free software advocate. Skype being free software is not “a lie” (an intentional attempt to deceive), it’s perfectly accurate. Look up “free” and “software” in a dictionary. We can’t force everyone to use just one meaning of the word free. Skype has always been free gratis for computer to computer use.
Skype making the client open source is good news. One day, I hope it will become fully free as in freedom and open its protocol as well.
Skype Open Source: questions and answers, perhaps
http://ofaurax.free.fr/blog/index.php5/2009-11-03-00h40-0100.xml
there is skype for linux on the official site of skype.
if you cant install it on your distro maybe u shoud now more about linux.
whats this love about having everything in open source, im so glad skype is not such a frikkin instant messenger software like windows live or yahoo messenger with bunch of crap.
I wish the protocol getting opensource too ! Imagine this, it would be so great !
But, one stuff at a time…
@Bercus the worst i have ever seen is the skype version for android. i mean why should i pay for skype to skype calls? even on windows mobile, or the iphone this is free. will there be a new version for android?
Hello,
great movement, but please note that there is not only Linux outside here. People also use *BSD and now even Solaris on x86. It would really be great if your binary blob would be portable between various OSes (Unix) on the same architecture. That would finally make some hope to have skype client on Solaris — which would be great personally for me, since this is what I’m using here.
Thanks for considering!
Karel
Great stuff. I work with a charity in Thailand and we need to promote Linux as they have no money to use expensive operating systems (legally at any rate).
Having Skype on Linux will let us speak to our volunteers and founders back home without too many obstructions. We were thinking Google Voice but Skype is well founded and used by everyone we know. Good call guys! (pun intended!)
That’s nice news !
But since the protocol part will stay closed, I hardly see the point.
Or, Skype will have to provide a library file (.so) for all combination of plateform/unix/libc/etc…
Just on linux, I count:
* x86/pc/libc5, x86/pc/libc6,
* powerpc (different compilers – some with smashing protection some not), all flavour of powerpc,…
* arm9, arm11, cortex A8, ….each with eabi or old-abi, all combination of libc & uclibc
* mips32,mips64, same problem (several abi, several libc)
* fpga-based : nios for example
That’s the emerging part of the iceberg.
Then reapeat that for NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD (for appliances).
When all is opensource, people themself do the recompilation, and patches if it’s needed.
But with closed-source, how will skype do ?
If it’s again a “Skype partnership” program , forget it : Usually small business or single-person company just don’t go through the hassle.
I’m afraid it will be like Adobe’s Flash system: Very few platform available, with never-ending commercial/legal/nda problems that will just kill creativity
(I still don’t have flash on my Mips-based PC, nor that Flash v9 works on latest ARM PDA… What a great progress…)
Great news, thanks!
The Linux client is a pain in the a**, also using closed client libs made integration with other technologies impossible (Purple, Telepathy). It sucks and lags behind too much, I hope Skype will find easier to follow simplicity and integration principles of Linux software now.
I prefer OSS protocols, but in communications almost nobody I need to interact uses such thing, I also understand Skype policy of keeping the business profitable, so I don’t care about the protocol much.
As said above: the current client doesn’t work on 64 systems or other hardware platforms than x86, this move creates numerous possibilities!
@Berkus: My recommendation is to release the libraries as fast as possible, even if the GUI is not ready, to speed-up adoption.
@rynndragon what you say doesn’t make any sense. There are VoIP providers using the SIP protocol (which is fully open: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_Initiation_Protocol).
They all allow to make phone calls to landlines and mobiles often at prices even lower than Skype.
If Skype would open their protocol, it wouldn’t make a difference for telemarketers.
Skype doesn’t want to open their protocol for other reasons.
I feel I am mocked…
The web page title is “Skype open source Skype for linux” (at least that is what firefox 3.5.4 says)
unless the protocol is open sourced skype is not free. I would really like to know the reasons they do not do it. If they did they would probably dominate the unix users.
@Berkus
Just remember, when we talk about free software it means freedom, not cost. If Skype is not completely open source, then it’s not free software.
@rharrison10, nspattak, jcemelanda & others
I’m not going to engage into a pointless debate of «free gratis» vs «free libre» software. Just a conclusion:
I don’t see «free libre» overweighing «free gratis» POV inside Skype any time too soon. As I said above, there is IP we would like to protect, and therefore «free libre» part is not going to happen at once. Still, in the «free gratis» sense Skype is free software and I will continue to insist it is so.
“@berkus Clearly you don’t understand what free software is.”
Clearly, I do. I just don’t take Stallman’s single-minded POV on the term «Free Software».
From my side, this argument ends here.
@Berkus
It is great news. You have my complete support towards what you are doing, and I believe I am not alone here.
Ahhha. Well it’s a good news, even if it’s only the UI part. I mean, it’s better than before, of course a fully open source offer would be the best.
But. Please make it in a way, that even if we must deal with a binary blob, make sure it does not interact with _any_ component of the OS directly. I mean: for example I can’t use webcam with skype since a while, I have no idea why, just green garbage can be seen, any other softwares are happy with my webcam, so I don’t think it’s my system’s fault. If the binary blob would not interact with the V4L devices and so on, but it let to the external (open source) code to do that, it would be much easier to understand/debug and correct these kind of problems. Also it would be great to convert skype into pidgin plugin and so, but not with the theory to have skype (as a separate program with UI, notification area icon etc etc) standalone and having some DBUS or whatever connection, but really as a plugin. And so on.
***Every company has some IP they don’t want to give up all at once.***
Doesn’t that translate to “We are very comfortable with the lock in it gives us, so we can perform less than stellar and still not have to fear people dumping us for better alternatives”?
If the Skype protocols had been documented and usable under RAND-Z licensing, Linux users would have dumped the Skype client for an alternative client like a hot potato. The only value the Skype client on Linux has is this lock-in in user base. It certainly isn’t in the “innovation” of the client, but if we want to communicate, there is no way around Skype.
Oh, read up on the meaning of free in the community. What Skype means by free is free of charge, not what the community values most; freedom. So skype never was free software, just gratis. You talk to the community, not the other way around, so get with the lingo.
Maybe open sourcing the UI will at least give you the ability to release the same version on all platforms at once. Now you only need to find an obscure OSI license that is a real pain in the neck and keeps the walled garden around the UI intact.
Guys…. You need to give Berkus a break.
Everywhere I go in the community, there are endless battles over the word “free”. Whether that be Fedora IRC chats, Ubuntu forums, Linux magazines etc… *yawn*. I completely understand the importance of open source. Trust me, I get it. But if you look at how and why open source software exists, then you’ll see for companies like RedHat or Canonical, their revenue comes from business support using their Operating systems. Google make Chrome web browser and Android, but they’re a marketing company, and that’s where they get their revenue from. Clearly the concern for Skype is that they open up everything, and they get forked . By that I mean the very thing that generates their revenue gets superseded and competition occurs. It’s not quite the same argument as, say nvidia’s drivers, or ATI drivers etc…
Why do you actually care what the code looks like in the core IP part of the Skype software looks like? It’s certainly of no concern of mine. What I *love* about the recent announcement is the fact that the much debated UI (it cannot ever please everyone) is to be opened up. Remember – some people ask for a simpler UI, others ask for a UI more like the Windows version. This is all people should be concerned about.
Providing the Skype linux team get the closed source bits right (excellent integration with pulseaudio, webcam support), then I’m excited to see what the community can come up with for different approaches to the UI. Maybe each distro will integrate it differently.
Honestly, I’m fighting berkus’s corner here. I love open source software, I use it every day. That why I choose Linux over Windows, and why I feel that projects like KDE4 series can develop so quickly. But why have you all come here shouting and shouting the same dribble about open source ideals? It’d be nice to have a completely open Skype, but as far as I’m concerned, you folks should be looking forward to ripping the UI to pieces and coming up with something new.
And hey – Skype are better than some companies for Linux support. Can you use iTunes on Linux? Can you play your favourite PC game on Linux?
*buries head in sand*.