Do you use skype for free voice-chat?

My Brother-in-Law asked me recently if we use Skype. I wish people would stop asking me questions, causes me no end of bother ;0)>

Anyway I’ve had the usual scout around to see what is going to fit best on my current system, these are the options so far:

Video and voice chat applications

1. Skype, http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/ – Video+VoIP
2. OpenWengo, http://www.openwengo.org/ – Video+VoIP
3. Gizmo, http://gizmo5.com/pc/ – IM and Video+VoIP
4. Meebo, http://www.meebo.com/ – web interface to popular IM systems AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN.
5. aMSN – IM but does Video+Voice chat too using MSN protocols and MSN application on MS Windows OS.
6. ekiga, http://www.ekiga.net – don’t know yet what the scope of this is.
7. Kopete – KDE IM client, does Video chat too.
8. Other … as I find things I’ll add them here.

So on to the details.

Firstly let’s consider my preferences I’m looking for something free (gratis, for no money) and free (libre, using open protocols, with open source distribution) that’s easy to install and easy to use on Ubuntu. Should be easy, right?!

I’ll finish the post shortly … ping me if you’re interested.

1. Skype

Installation

Skype is available in the Medibuntu (Media Ubuntu) repositories and so it’s a breeze to install, I do “kdesu synaptic” then reload the repos index and search for “skype”, choose to install and then click the apply button. Done.