Comment by kilburn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kilburn | Hacker News Reader

I've been testing it out, and it does not seem like an 1.0 release by any stretch of imagination.

- On a mac, the client crashes regularly. I've been able to register an account and make a video call, but there are several GUI issues (cut labels, missing text fields, etc.) and the name registration didn't seem to work.

- On android, the client acted really weirdly in the beginning. After a while it seems to have stabilized a bit, and I've been able to make a video call (to a mac). The video quality was fine, but the client did not handle screen orientation changes well (my own video feed ended up distorted).

- On linux I haven't been able to make a call, even though text chat worked. It may have been because I don't have a webcam...

All in all, the experience was far from what you would expect from an 1.0 release nowadays. It had major warts on all platforms I tested.

Also, if anyone is curious, you can login with the same account from several devices at the same time. Calls ring on all devices, but text messages are less reliable (they don't always reach all devices). Also, off line devices do not get the messages they missed when you fire the client later on.

I would love and push hard to replace skype/xmpp with a solution of this kind, but I just cannot in the current state of affairs :(

Right, this is a very nice project, but obviously not ready for a 1.0 release. I am frustrated by the lack of technical documentation. For this kind of decentralized projects, full transparency is required.

It took some time before I understood the foundation blocks of the Ring network, using [0] and [1], and yet I'm quite unhappy:

* Many items are very lightly documented, or even "to be disclosed" ;

* The main website does not provide any insight about Ring's internals ;

* Especially, the name registration service is quite obscure and currently not decentralized according to the doc [0].

Thanks for the project though, and good luck!

[0]: https://tuleap.ring.cx/plugins/mediawiki/wiki/ring/index.php...

[1]: https://tuleap.ring.cx/plugins/mediawiki/wiki/ring/index.php...

Yeah I wasn't impressed either, unfortunately it seemed like a combination of cool ideas but lacked any sort of network effect. I mean even an app like Duo by Google is pretty functionless if you don't know anyone using it. This is the primary problem with communication technologies. How do you convince your friends to use it. The other option would be some sort of friend-making mechanism. This is where even marginal social networks can be functional because you can at least see the other people using them.

Also the UI and layout left quite a bit to be desired. Mainly I didn't like how it just ran seemingly crashing in the background occasionally and I never had anyone to talk to one it.

There is a big difference needed when designing free software for individual productivity vs. social software where the usefulness depends upon other people using it and a lot of projects don't get past the cool prototype faze. Since they aren't likely to be seeking VC money to monetize it, then it will probably remain a cool demo for some time. At least the Signal people have tried to make a product that is fully usable by anyone who can install an app.

There is a need for skype replacement, as Microsoft is actively killing it.

What people use skype for:

* chat (many alternatives)

* video calls (many alternatives)

* PSTN gateway (SIP is an alternative. It is handy sometimes, but loosing relevance as IP connectivity is becoming more global)

* conferencing (no good known alternative, which is as simple, ad-hoc)

* screen sharing (many alternatives, but it is ad-hoc, simple.)

* simple file sharing (many alternatives)

Now screen sharing and ad-hoc conferences are very powerful combo, and I'm looking for alternatives, as I'm afraid skype will be totally useless for me in a year or so, if the current trends hold on.

Maybe we have a very different definition of conferencing, but I don't consider skype capable of conferencing. It can't record conferences (including what is presented), it can't pre-share a link to a planned conference to participants, it can't have the organizer mute/unmute others and grant presenter status (critical for larger-scale online conferences), etc...

I use gotomeeting for conferencing. For an ad-hoc conference I just create a meeting and share the link to it across mail/skype/... to all participants.

I said simple ad-hoc conference calls. Like a phone conference, even more simply: just drag and drop some contacts to a call, and they all can participate. (It worked like a charm in skype. you can even share a screen and files and chat with the conference call)

No conference link, no recording, no fancy web-ex like stuff.

If you take a look at recent success stories many had a success through simplicity. Startups, ordinary people, small business don't want the enterprisey complicated stuff where a complete IT department is needed to set up a conference. They like simple stuff that works, and are willing to give up some expectations due to limitations of a tool. (I had to give up far more expectations for enterprisey stuff for consumer stuff)

This could make for a good use of this software. The biggest issue free software such as this have is still adoption by less technically inclined people and a steep learning curve for techies. More effort needs to be put into cognitive reasoning and user planning but these skills aren't typically focused on by computer scientists. Whereas something like this absolutely needs to just work for it to gain traction and be useful for anyone other than niche teams capable of designating it as the defacto tool. If there are obstacles people will usually switch to the lowest common denominator like Google Hangouts or whatever they can use without installing something. It could be a good Skype replacement but the challenge is focusing on usability in conjunction with functionality.

How about https://jitsi.org/jitsi-meet/ ?

Funny but I last tried it in november of 2016 and I had the same issues as you describe in points 1 and 3. I only tested on Mac and Linux. Wasn't aware of an android version.

It's made by French! /joking

This has been my experience with most of the GNU/Free projects. They suffer from terrible UI/UX although they solve the core problem (P2P for example).

Imo, this is why private startups can out compete those free projects. The private startups focus on delivering a great UI/UX and this matters most to customers/users. Most users don't care privacy anyway. Usability comes first.

> It's made by French! /joking

I did not understand the joke. I suppose it goes with the view that outside the USA there are no good software developers, well, because these are all second-class countries.

My friends (most of them are French) and I often joke about French people, how they dislike law and order, how they think their country is the best and the worst at the same time, etc. They're often boastful or xenophobic, but I can't see how they are different on programming, computer science or technology. BTW, the usual "joke" portrait of an American is a fat, uneducated and religious guns-lover. Please don't feel offended if you are from the USA; of course, this is far from the individual reality, but each feature is (statistically) over represented in this country, so joking about it make sense.

You shouldn't assume everyone online is American. csomar is from Tunisia [0]—a country which was, for what it's worth, colonized and exploited by the French until 1956. I imagine that might color perceptions.

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20160626074252/https://omarabid....

Oh my site is down :/

> assume everyone online is American

Who even does that?

See the other reply. In my country, French are known to do sloppy work. Especially when it comes to cars comparing to German ones.

Come on, Renault are the cheapest cars that require the cheapest parts and will last a lifetime.

On the other hand, that does apply to older Peugeot cars. Can only think on Alfa Romeo as worse car brand to get fixed by commoners.

> that does apply to older Peugeot cars.

you mean like the Peugeot 504 http://europe.autonews.com/article/20131204/ANE/131209940/pe... ?

I stand corrected. That machine is built to resist without doubt. :-)

Was referring to the Peugeot generation that came afterwards around '97 or so. My family had Peugeot on those days and each model they got was problematic. On the other hand, Renault was generally seen in Portugal as more stable and cheaper to repair.

Like vlc

I see some truth in your comment, but then I personally used Skype on Linux and honestly could not conduct a single meeting without 10 times of disconnections... its low quality was another thing.... I am hoping Ring 1.0 live up to high standards and provide a real solution to this Skype mess on Linux!

The team at Savoir Faire Linux seems to be French-Canadians (Quebecois).

Was approached by them for a project. Definitely not the case as outlined by we39i [0] down in the comments. Mostly French from France there.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14875272

Yeah, two serious hangs and a crash while making an account on Windows. By the behaviour (seems to be associated with checking for username conflicts), I suspect the issue is latency while half the planet hammer their services making accounts. Needed much better stress testing.

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