Title: Jitsi: a viable replacement to Skype
Date: 2013-12-04 05:40
My girlfriend ex-girlfriend complained because we both bought a webcam
(Logitech e350,
cheap and runs well on GNU/Linux), and we're not using them: time to find the *right* software!
# Constraints
- She's got a low-end laptop (Thinkpad X21)
- She likes fancies interfaces
- We're both using Debian-derivatives
- I like crypto
- I like Free softwares
# Rejected candidates
- [Instabird](http://www.instantbird.com/), [Psi](http://psi-im.org/) and [Kopete](http://kde.org/applications/internet/kopete/) do not support video.
- [Ekiga](http://ekiga.org), [Empathy](https://wiki.gnome.org/Empathy) and [Pidgin](http://pidgin.im) do not support encryption.
- Skype, Trillian and Google Talk are proprietary.
- [I](https://trac.gajim.org/ticket/7038) [do](https://trac.gajim.org/ticket/7031) [not](https://trac.gajim.org/ticket/7034) [trust](https://trac.gajim.org/ticket/7024) [Gajim](https://gajim.org/) [at](https://trac.gajim.org/ticket/7454) [all](https://trac.gajim.org/ticket/720).
- _mplayer + gpg + nc_ is not fancy.
So we decided to give a try to [Jitsi](http://jitsi.org/).
# Jitsi
## Positives points
- No funky installation process
- No cryptic mandatory configuration wizard
- No exotics dependencies
- No goats sacrifices and voodoo magic to get the webcam recognized
- Clear interface, straightforward to use
- Opportunistic encryption (Can also be forced, of course)
- Multi-platform
## Negatives points
The only real annoyance is the 1990's looking interface (thank you Java).
## Usage
1. Download and install it
3. Add/create an XMPP account
4. Add/import some contacts
5. That's it: you are using [OTR](https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/) for the chat, and [ZRTP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZRTP) for audio and video, by default!
# Conclusion
In less than 15 minutes, I was having an encrypted videocall with a non-technical (but still loved) person: this is impressive.