Jitsi
Jitsi ( French spelling for the Bulgarian жици, wires, pronounced [ ' ʒitsi ] ), formerly SIP Communicator is a multi-protocol IP - telephony and instant messenger application with video calling is also possible. Jitsi is Free / Libre Open Source Software ( FLOSS ). It is still in development, but has all the features required for a VoIP client and instant messenger. Since it is implemented entirely in Java, it runs on all platforms with the appropriate runtime environment.
History
The development of Jitsi, then still "SIP Communicator " (SIP is an acronym for Session Initiation Protocol), launched in 2003. Late 2006, the project was so far advanced that a first alpha version was released. A first graphical user interface was already in place, remain the main protocols were already implemented. She was able to run already among the most popular operating systems, ie Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
Almost a year later, in November 2007, was released the second Alpha version, which already offered a lot more functionality. In addition to the integration of other protocols was also heavily placed on the OSGi framework, which is very friendly boarding for new developers. Was also increased comfort through innovations such as user avatars or advanced course functionality.
As a result, increased the number of developers working on the open source project, drastically. Accordingly, the third alpha version already was released in February 2008. The emphasis was placed on conference chats and internationalization (integration of the best known languages).
2011, the project was renamed in Jitsi, because it is after the added support is no longer a SIP softphone, but to an Instant Messenger with audio - and video telephony function of audio and video conversations. Nightly Builds have been chosen in March 2011 to beta versions. Since build 3648 the SILK audio codec is supported.
Possibilities of communication
Jitsi supported in all protocols, presence and instant messaging. In most cases, file transfer is possible. (Video ) telephony is currently possible with SIP and Jingle. The support of the Google version of Jingle ( GTalk ) also allows connections from a GMail account to Android devices. In addition Jitsi offers some interesting features:
- Encrypted communication with OTR for instant messaging and ZRTP for picture and sound
- Desktop sharing - Sharing of your own screen for viewing and editing through the other side
- Audio conferencing without further infrastructure.
- Remote configuration provisioning
- Direct connections for the media data over P2P Interactive Connectivity Establishment and Universal Plug and Play ( UPnP). In order to control persistent NAT configurations, Jitsi provides options to route the RTP packets in the form of Jingle Nodes and TURN available.
- Full IPv6 protocol support
Supported protocols
Jitsi supports all popular protocols known instant messenger. In some cases the implementation of protocols is, however, still in development and therefore can not possibly deliver the desired results to one hundred percent. Among the already implemented protocols include:
Presence, instant messaging, and (video) telephony
- SIP - Audio and Video
- XMPP Jingle including the extension for audio and video
Presence and Instant Messaging
- ICQ / AIM
- MSN
- Yahoo
- Zeroconf ( Bonjour)
Variants of the media transfer
Audio Codecs
Video Codecs
Google Summer of Code
SIP Communicator or Jitsi is a longtime participant in the Google Summer of Code. This education program will award scholarships to students programming from around the world to develop enhancements for free software projects. In 2008, a total of 1125 students at 175 open source projects involved. A considerable part of Jitsi code base is contributed by GSoC participants. Also in 2011, several projects have been proposed, for example:
- Implementing support for wideband audio codec SILK
- Spell check
- Calls on Yahoo
- File transfers via jingle and GTalk