The verdict
With the exception of Empathy and Jitsi, all the other tools have one thing in common. They could each claim the winner’s title if not for poor performance in one of the tests.
Unlike the other tools that offer a number of features in addition to being chat clients, Empathy is a one-trick pony. While it supports audio and video calling, the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. Apart from an incremental update, no new version has shipped in nearly two years. Unless something changes, we wouldn’t be surprised if Empathy is dropped completely by all distributions.
The Tox protocol has several clients built around it for different platforms, however most of them are still in development and perform inconsistently. Although not as bad as Empathy, uTox must improve its video/ audio calls functionality if it hopes to compete with the others. We had made a similar remark about qTox, another Tox client, in the Roundup in LXF217.
OpenMeetings’ shortcoming is its installation. The lengthy process is too much work when all you’re interested in is a means to communicate with relatives and friends. Still, its use of whiteboards and the integrated calendar, coupled with its approach to Rooms, makes it an ideal conference tool. If not for the installation, which requires setting up a server, and the Dashboard, which is unlike the other tools covered here, we would have awarded it first place. Yet OpenMeetings was never intended to be used as a chat client, like the other tools featured in this Roundup. Still, the simplicity of GNURing and Jitsi can’t be overstated.
Ring, the only GNU project on our list is similarly worthy of praise. But whereas OpenMeetings floundered in the installation and the user experience tests, GNU Ring falls short in its approach to security, especially when compared with Jitsi.
Along with GNU Ring, Jitsi has found the right balance between features and usability. But Jitsi wins the top spot for its approach to security: you can encrypt all your communications.
“Ring falls short in its approach to security, especially when compared with Jitsi…”