Skype vs. Gizmo
User Interface - Gizmo wins
Ok, let's face it - Skype's UI isn't as good as Gizmo's. I find the Skype UI to be clunky, unresponsive, and ugly. Furthermore, you need QT libraries to run Skype and only GTK to run Gizmo. I like Gizmo's UI much better, even though some parts of it don't work yet.
Call Quality - Gizmo wins
I also found that Gizmo's call quality was slightly better than Skype's. Maybe this is just because I was talking to someone about 80 miles away with a Broadband-to-Broadband connection, but I'm not sure. I think that Skype's protocal is designed for slower connections, thus doesn't sound as good as something optimized for Broadband.
Configuration - Skype wins (badly)
Gizmo can't win in this arena (yet). I know that the Linux version of Skype has much less configuration options than the Windows version does, but Gizmo has none at all! None! This means that I can't use my USB headset because there is no place to specify an alternate sound device.
Call Completion Rate - Skype wins
I have had so many problems using Gizmo. Whenever I recieved a call (my friend has the Windows version), I would get a dialog which I would accept, but nothing happened after that. I saw the text "Incoming call from..." in the statusbar, but that changed back to "Ready" in 5 seconds. If that happened (which it did every time), we'd both have to close and re-open Gizmo. I also noticed that Gizmo ties up the sound card after the call if that happens, which is really bad. I have to call my friend in order for it to work.
Piping Through aRts - Skype wins
I like aRts. It works pretty well and I can hear audio in multiple apps at once. 'artsdsp' works great with Skype, but doesn't work with Gizmo. I can hear the other end talking, but they can't hear me. If I exit and start normally, it works again.
Overall Functionality - Skype wins
Skype is overall more functional that Gizmo right now, but that could change soon. Gizmo (for Linux, at least) is currently in beta and Skype has been stable for a while now.
So there you have it. In my comparison, Skype wins. But I do really like some parts of Gizmo. I love how they decided to use only open standards and support SIP and Jabber. We can expect great things to come from Gizmo in the future. But for now, Skype it is.
Ok, let's face it - Skype's UI isn't as good as Gizmo's. I find the Skype UI to be clunky, unresponsive, and ugly. Furthermore, you need QT libraries to run Skype and only GTK to run Gizmo. I like Gizmo's UI much better, even though some parts of it don't work yet.
Call Quality - Gizmo wins
I also found that Gizmo's call quality was slightly better than Skype's. Maybe this is just because I was talking to someone about 80 miles away with a Broadband-to-Broadband connection, but I'm not sure. I think that Skype's protocal is designed for slower connections, thus doesn't sound as good as something optimized for Broadband.
Configuration - Skype wins (badly)
Gizmo can't win in this arena (yet). I know that the Linux version of Skype has much less configuration options than the Windows version does, but Gizmo has none at all! None! This means that I can't use my USB headset because there is no place to specify an alternate sound device.
Call Completion Rate - Skype wins
I have had so many problems using Gizmo. Whenever I recieved a call (my friend has the Windows version), I would get a dialog which I would accept, but nothing happened after that. I saw the text "Incoming call from..." in the statusbar, but that changed back to "Ready" in 5 seconds. If that happened (which it did every time), we'd both have to close and re-open Gizmo. I also noticed that Gizmo ties up the sound card after the call if that happens, which is really bad. I have to call my friend in order for it to work.
Piping Through aRts - Skype wins
I like aRts. It works pretty well and I can hear audio in multiple apps at once. 'artsdsp' works great with Skype, but doesn't work with Gizmo. I can hear the other end talking, but they can't hear me. If I exit and start normally, it works again.
Overall Functionality - Skype wins
Skype is overall more functional that Gizmo right now, but that could change soon. Gizmo (for Linux, at least) is currently in beta and Skype has been stable for a while now.
So there you have it. In my comparison, Skype wins. But I do really like some parts of Gizmo. I love how they decided to use only open standards and support SIP and Jabber. We can expect great things to come from Gizmo in the future. But for now, Skype it is.
Written by Justin @ 11/21/2005 12:20:00 PM | Permalink
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