4 ms·

What stable alternatives do we have for a pure P2P? Tox still doesn't persist group chats, yet. I hope someone will come up with an implementation of Riffle.

by arunc 10y ago

Sylos 10y ago
The recent introduction of WebRTC to browsers could throw Skype off its throne. You pretty much just go on the webpage of such a WebRTC-service, start up a conversation, which generates you a link, then you send that link to your conversation partner and they just have to open this link in their browser to join the conversation. That's so incredibly simple to use, that it should be much less of a problem to get people to use it instead of Skype. And it's end-to-end-encrypted. And for example Mozilla offers such a service (called Firefox Hello [0]) for free. The only thing where Skype could compete here, is by offering services surrounding video calls, for example a contact list, file-sharing, support for businesses etc. [0]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/hello/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/hello/
- ronjouch 10y ago
  It's "incredibly simple to use" only when the asynchronous use case you describe is desirable. Consider this very basic use case: my mom and I want to be always able to call/interrupt each other. - Skype fits the bill: I just double-click her name in the contact list. She hears the ringing, and answers. - WebRTC-based services do not: I have to generate a link, email it, and hope she sees the email (she won't) then join asynchronously. Put dryly, basic WebRTC-based services like Hello lack the notions of a contact and a presence mechanism. That's a deal-breaker for my use case. EDIT: I see you mention "services surrounding video calls, for example a contact list". Agreed, but to me it's more than an additional service, it's a core feature.
  - vidarh 10y ago
    But nothing prevents people from building such a presence mechanism as an app, or using browser notifications. The point is that with WebRTC the hardest bit is taken care of. The number of people who have the skills to meaningfully innovate on the surrounding UI and capabilities is vastly greater than the number of people who'd be able to come up with usable video calling.
- imglorp 10y ago
  Click-the-link is a different usecase from click-address-book, really. Only one of those furthers the new MS business model of collecting data on you.
- tajen 10y ago
  https://appear.in https://appear.in - doesn't even require a login!
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  But how do I send that link to people? That doesn't address the issue arunc mentioned of persistent group chat. These days with a lot of people I do text chat on skype and we hop onto discord for audio. There's no good single program that can do everything yet. The "I want a pony" contender would have: text chat that can work asynchronously and let you view history offline, voice and video and screen sharing, the ability to do end-to-end security, and it wouldn't break all the time, on desktop and phone.
  - vidarh 10y ago
    Several webrtc services offers persistent chats at a URL you define. There's plenty of room for improvement there, but webrtc lowers the barrier dramatically by solving many of the hard parts.

What stable alternatives do we have for a pure P2P? Tox still doesn't persist group chats, yet. I hope someone will come up with an implementation of Riffle.

by arunc 10y ago

What stable alternatives do we have for a pure P2P? Tox still doesn't persist group chats, yet. I hope someone will come up with an implementation of Riffle.

Sylos 10y ago

The recent introduction of WebRTC to browsers could throw Skype off its throne. You pretty much just go on the webpage of such a WebRTC-service, start up a conversation, which generates you a link, then you send that link to your conversation partner and they just have to open this link in their browser to join the conversation. That's so incredibly simple to use, that it should be much less of a problem to get people to use it instead of Skype. And it's end-to-end-encrypted. And for example Mozilla offers such a service (called Firefox Hello [0]) for free. The only thing where Skype could compete here, is by offering services surrounding video calls, for example a contact list, file-sharing, support for businesses etc. [0]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/hello/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/hello/

ronjouch 10y ago
It's "incredibly simple to use" only when the asynchronous use case you describe is desirable. Consider this very basic use case: my mom and I want to be always able to call/interrupt each other. - Skype fits the bill: I just double-click her name in the contact list. She hears the ringing, and answers. - WebRTC-based services do not: I have to generate a link, email it, and hope she sees the email (she won't) then join asynchronously. Put dryly, basic WebRTC-based services like Hello lack the notions of a contact and a presence mechanism. That's a deal-breaker for my use case. EDIT: I see you mention "services surrounding video calls, for example a contact list". Agreed, but to me it's more than an additional service, it's a core feature.
- vidarh 10y ago
  But nothing prevents people from building such a presence mechanism as an app, or using browser notifications. The point is that with WebRTC the hardest bit is taken care of. The number of people who have the skills to meaningfully innovate on the surrounding UI and capabilities is vastly greater than the number of people who'd be able to come up with usable video calling.
imglorp 10y ago
Click-the-link is a different usecase from click-address-book, really. Only one of those furthers the new MS business model of collecting data on you.
tajen 10y ago
https://appear.in https://appear.in - doesn't even require a login!
Dylan16807 10y ago
But how do I send that link to people? That doesn't address the issue arunc mentioned of persistent group chat. These days with a lot of people I do text chat on skype and we hop onto discord for audio. There's no good single program that can do everything yet. The "I want a pony" contender would have: text chat that can work asynchronously and let you view history offline, voice and video and screen sharing, the ability to do end-to-end security, and it wouldn't break all the time, on desktop and phone.
- vidarh 10y ago
  Several webrtc services offers persistent chats at a URL you define. There's plenty of room for improvement there, but webrtc lowers the barrier dramatically by solving many of the hard parts.