LXer: Why and How to Use Ring Instead of Skype on Linux
 

Published at LXer:

It is like when you say Ring is an alternative to Skype. No, no, it's not. Skype is ghastly. It is proprietary; it is demonstrably insecure; there is evidence that Microsoft uses Skype to siphon off conversations to the NSA; and the GNU/Linux version still lags behind the Windows one. So no, Ring is not an alternative to Skype. Ring is a full-featured, open source product that you need to know about...

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That looks very interesting and appears to be in the Debian Stretch and Sid repositories too making it even easier to install. I'll definitely be looking into it as it may be the first viable cross-platform Skype alternative I've seen (friends have OSX, Windows and Android devices they prefer to use).