Google Eliminates Gizmo5 Client For Linux

cuttheredwire writes "Evidence on the Gizmo5 forum (login required) confirms that since Google's takeover of Gizmo5, only the Windows, Mac, and iPhone clients are available for download from the official Web page. The Linux download link no longer works. This is a potential problem for happy Linux users with paid-up credit in their Gizmo5 accounts if they need to reinstall the software. A back-door download is still available, although it is speculated on the forums that it will go away soon. Does this mean that (as with other Google projects such as Google Talk) Linux will be the poor relation for Google Voice also?"

really just linux?

[Youngbull]

I don't know about you, but I can't seem to find any downloads unless I go to the specific site where they have it, you can't even get new membership it seems... Seems to me that google has packed up the product and is looking to move it elsewhere, maybe incorporate it in their own software perhaps? and the fact that you can't download linux version from http://www.gizmo5.com/download.php [gizmo5.com] , seems to me to be more of a bug then a "kill the penguins" act, although I guess most of the posts here is going to assume so...

Re:ok now more seriously--

[Anonymous Coward]

Gizmo does use SIP. I have an Asterisk box for my home phone that registers to their SIP server.

Re:ok now more seriously--

[natehoy]

I have Gizmo5 working just fine with my Linksys ATA. There are even instructions on the Gizmo home page on how to set it up.

Gizmo5 + my ATA + Google Voice means I now have a spare phone line that allows me free unlimited calling on a normal telephone (though I do have to initiate calls from my web browser). My primary phone is my Blackberry, but it's nice having a spare line with unlimited minutes.

Mindless panic as usual

[cybereal]

Gizmo, entirely unlike Skype, is based on standard SIP interfaces. You don't need their proprietary client to use the service.

Just pick your favorite SIP client, preferably with a lot of codecs and STUN support, and get on with your day.

Panic over!

Are you sure?

[akcpe]

Um, i checked the gizmo5 site this morning and the Linux client is still on the download page with the OS X and Windows versions.

Download Still avalible..

[s0litaire]

... but you have to go direct to the download site:
http://download.gizmo5.com/jasmine/

Re:Chrome OS?

[Nerdfest]

You can actually run Chrome in Linux now if you use the unstable repositories. I've been running both Chrome and Chromium for the past few weeks, and Chrome seems fine.

Re:Chrome OS?

[MrNaz]

Redundant? More like insightful. Forget malware installing itself on your OS and sending back information about your data and activities, ChromeOS just sends all of your data itself to servers somewhere where it can be picked through and analyzed in detail, and ensures that all of your activities are actually performed on those servers so that you can't actually do anything without them.

Non-story

[dlgeek]

If at their download page(http://www.gizmo5.com/download.php [gizmo5.com]) it lists Linux perfectly prominently, the link is just broken (pointing at a page which seems to have vanished). As the summary pointed out, the files are still there. Since gizmo5.com redirects to a page on google.com, I think a much better summary would be "Google accidentally breaks link while moving website of recently acquired company"

Re:ok now more seriously--

[PiSkyHi]

Why not use MO-Call ?

MO-Call [mo-call.com]

It is standard SIP, they have a QT based Linux client and you can use your account on your mobile as well - they support different methods to make calls, so you have more flexibility.

Disclaimer, I am involved with MO-Call, so this is more of a plug - we are aiming to support as many methods to make international and voip calls as we can.

Re:Chrome OS?

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Googler, I can only say that this is misleading.

Google has no antipathy for Linux, but unless someone internally steps up and says "I'll make it for Linux!".. well, there is a lack of linux support.

I have yet to meet a windows-using technical person at Google. I'm rather amazed that we tend to pump out windows-only software.

Re:Protest this.

[gabebear]

I'm very confused... I've been using Gizmo for years and there has never been an official iPhone client, and the best thing about Gizmo is that it uses REAL SIP, so it works with any standard SIP client(unlike Skype).

Re:Google: Community Taker, Not So Much Giver

[PatrickThomson]

So are you saying that the real story here is that one Linux user decided to install it while the server was momentarily down, freaked out and wrote a panic-mode slashdot submission which was then published to the front page with zero fact checking?

then 2 comments later, your post, with the succinct quote:
It looks like the "Don't Be Evil" days are long gone at Google

This is why I don't pay much attention to slashdot any more, and user-generated content on internet more generally. almost every eloquent vitriolic diatribe, is ill-informed and flat-out wrong. I've been desensitised to arguments that don't have verifiable proof, and it's made me be a complete dick to my friends in real-life debates.

I mean, come on, for a START, Google couldn't be less "evil" without going out of business. There are whole tracts of the moral spectrum that are dubiously grey, that Google make a daily choice not to live in, but nobody is completely immune to technical failures/website bugs/human error. Your rant offends me, because it's a lot harder for the good guys to be good when everyone's going to talk smack about them anyway. It's people like you that make good things go away.

Re:Chrome OS?

[Haymaker]

I find it funny that so many people are paranoid of Google having your information, and the only purpose they've shown for having it is to target advertising (which imo is better than CLICK HERE TO MELT THE ICE AND FREE THE WOMAN). If you're truly worried about your privacy, you're a little too late for that [slashdot.org], and it seems it's not Google you need to be worried about.

Re:Linux is a support nightmare

[unix1]

I use Linux on pretty much all of my computers, and I guess I don't fall in with your stereotype that they can't make money off of me, because I pay for:

- Gizmo5 (have done so since pretty much their launch when were called sipphone.com) x 2 accounts
- Google Voice x 2 accounts
- a couple of other SIP service providers

There is one good solution - make your source available, and given that your program is of some minimal usefulness to their users, the distros will package it for you. Not only that, many times they will provide you with free computing resources to [re]compile your program if there is a change in one of the libraries it uses; for not just one, but as many architectures as they support; free bandwidth to distribute it; free bandwidth and support to push out its updates (security, version, etc.) to as many users as you have. Sometimes, they'll even give you feedback, patches, suggestions, AND thank you for it. If you have a subscription model like Google, there is no need to keep the client secret and charge for it.

While reading your post, I noticed that if you substitute Linux with Windows in your rant, you pretty much have the same point, but with none of the above available. There is no single ABI for Windows either. There are multiplicity of DLLs and components that are going to be different versions on different versions of the OS, different service pack levels, different versions of .net or some other random programs installed. Windows XP is different from Vista and 7. Same for Windows 2K[X], unless you have program XYZ already installed, unless it's below version X, unless, unless... Which means you provide all libraries with your app, or it potentially breaks for a lot of users. And no, it's not practical to test every single configuration either. Oh, and this before you get to Windows CE, Tablet PC, or, heaven forbid, Windows Mobile. They look nothing like a single product.

Put DOWN the pitchfork

[tyler_larson]

Gizmo uses SIP, and there's no shortage of SIP clients for Linux that are better maintained and more consistently compatible with Linux's ever-changing audio interface. Don't be silenced, but don't riot either.