Head to Head: VOIP software/technology

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Head to Head: VOIP software/technology

October 2, 2006 in VoIP | Permalink

Screengrab_51 Only a year ago it seemed like everyone was using Skype for their VOIP calls. Within the last year, most of the major IM (internet messaging) developers have added some kind of VOIP support to their chat software and video conferencing, so you can use your webcam for making video calls. Better still, inter-operability enables a PC user to chat to a Mac user and vice-versa.

First up is Skype 2.5, currently the most popular dedicated VOIP application, with a Mac OS X version in beta testing that supports video conferencing. The Gizmo Project is a another popular VOIP package, but the Linux version lags behind the Windows release. However, the Mac OS X version is nearly as up-to-date. Windows Live Messenger is Microsoft's VOIP package and replaces MSN Messenger, whilst Google recently release GoogleTalk. AOL are due to release v1.5 of their Triton project, which might be worth considering.

Let us know which VOIP package you prefer (or an alternative such as Wengo, which we aim to get online soon!).