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Communications Software Linux Technology

Interview With Asterisk Creator Mark Spencer 28

Posted by timothy from the so-did-you-always-want-to-be-a-comedian? dept.
ZX81 writes "We've just completed an interview with Mark Spencer AKA Markster, the creator of Asterisk (an Open Source PBX replacement running on Linux). He details the start of the Asterisk project and the direction for the future."
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Interview With Asterisk Creator Mark Spencer More

Interview With Asterisk Creator Mark Spencer

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  • Always the way (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Xerp ( 768138 )
    I usually work at the office 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST However, I rarely get to spend much time doing technical things while I'm at work.

    PHB? Hehe. Sounds just like my job. At work I play "scrapheap challenge" in the server room, and label boxes with "rubbish" for the cleaners to take out. At home I code PHP and test loads of Linux build.

    But its great that in such a growth area a VoIP we've got a great OpenSource product like Asterisk.

    • Re:Always the way (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ZX81 ( 105194 )
      But its great that in such a growth area a VoIP we've got a great OpenSource product like Asterisk.

      I couldn't agree more!

      The amount of crap this guy has to put up with is more than anyone's fair share! He does a great job of being the benevolant dictator in a difficult product.

      I really do believe that Asterisk for voice will be the same as Apache for html.

      We can but hope and wait.

      (oh yeah and evangalize!) :-)
      • The amount of crap this guy has to put up with is more than anyone's fair share! He does a great job of being the benevolant dictator in a difficult product.

        I don't get it... I thought Asterix [roman-empire.net] was all about overthrowing dictators [fws1.com]

  • Asterix (Score:3, Funny)

    by Spudley ( 171066 ) on Thursday November 25, 2004 @05:48PM (#10920691) Homepage Journal

    "These programmers are crazy!"

    tap-tap-tap.

    "Why, Asterix, they don't even eat wild boar."

  • The Future seems bright (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Evanrude ( 21624 ) <david@nospaM.fattyco.org> on Thursday November 25, 2004 @06:22PM (#10920831) Homepage Journal
    I have been using Asterisk for several months, and I am extremely impressed with the capabilities it has.
    As I use it more and more I am always amazed by the features that it as compared to other PBX systems that cost thousands of dollars. I own a small business [axigent.net] and without Asterisk we wouldn't have been able to afford a phone system. We have also been fortunate enough to be able to work with a few local businesses looking at the possibility of deploying Asterisk systems. I look forward to developing for Asterisk in the future (when time permits) as well as continuing to explore the vast array of services that it provides.
    Kudos to Mark and the gang for an excellent piece of software.
  • So does anyone know any more about this metaboo game he mentions?

  • A whole interview?? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    For this:

    *

    ????

  • Mark Spencer is awesome! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SpaFF ( 18764 ) on Friday November 26, 2004 @12:02AM (#10922218) Homepage
    In addition to Asterisk, Mark was also one of the original coders of GAIM [sf.net]. He's from around my neck of the woods, so I've been lucky enough to speak with him (briefly) at a few cons. He's a really cool guy.

  • I have two Asterisk boxes; one at home for play and the other sitting at the office as a backup ready to take over if our 20-year-old ROLM switch dies.

    I got a quote yesterday from our interconnect on the cost to add a couple of T1 cards to the ROLM so we can get off the excessive copper trunks we have: C$69,000! For that much I can create a complete Asterisk-based VOIP system with far more abilities.

    The other quote for a new traditional Siemens PBX was in the range of C$180K. So why would I want to buy

    • One issue: you want more than a simple PC for your lawfirm's PBX. You want something the can at least recover automaticly from a crash. 2 PCs, RAID disks, UPS, and the like. You might already know this, but it is important to point it out so some idiot doesn't get the wrong idea.

      • We discussed this over lunch today. Except for one outage that had us down for a day and the occasional power outage the ROLM has run non-stop for nigh on 17 years.

        Any PC-based system must be fault-tolerant. At least having a second pre-configured PC around is cheaper than a full PBX. Hell I could have five backups available including a couple off-site.
        • my $0.02

          considering the fact that you could build a well equipped asterisk server with dual processors, raid, ups, redundant power supplies, etc. for around $3,000, you could set it up and see how things go. if it doesn't work out, then go with the expensive proprietary stuff and sell your server or use it for something else. ...or take it home for "testing!"

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