OpenWengo: An Open-Source / Open-Standards Skype Alternative?

From Wengo comes WengoPhone (WP) an open source Voice over IP aletrantive to Skype. Although lacking in several areas in my opinion especially GUI wise, WP brings the ability to make and receive SIP calls, send SMS as well as video conferencing. I'm not going to debate whether open-source code is good or bad for you. I'm perfectly fine with a closed-source code solution provided that it follows industry standards. What makes VoIP potentially disruptive to the communication industry as we know it today, is the existence of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). SIP allows different VoIP services to interoperate over the internet directly without ever hitting the traditional phone network (PSTN). Simply providing the kind of interoperability and interconnectivity we have come to expect from the Internet. So what's the big deal? Skype and several other VoIP services DO NOT ALLOW their users to call anyone outside their service over the internet. For example, if you're a Voiceglo user you cannot call a Skype user without hitting PSTN. If that didn't paint a crystal clear picture it might be useful to think of Skype as an island excluded from the rest of the world. WengoPhone on the other hand is an Open-Standards Platform, which means that you're able to call and receive calls from users that are not using the same software. The media has not yet grasped the significance of this, and still report about VoIP in the same old terms; still considering the traditional PSTN as the only means to interconnect. OpenWengo is currently available for Windows Only, and with Linux, OSX and WinCE clients in the work. Related

• [Microsoft Ventures inVoIP]
• [Intel takes a stake at Skype]
• [Ahmad Humeid's Project Gizmo: An “open standards” Skype replacement?]
• [OpenWengo Developer Resources / Wiki]
• [PhoneGiam]

Tags: [Softphone] [VoIP] [Skype] [OpenWengo] [SIP] [Session Initiation Protocol] [Voice over IP]