Tox: A Free as in Freedom Skype replacement

The internet was made for communication. But talking with your friends, in a safe, reliable way, is much harder than it should be. Today's ubiquitous communication services are insecure, and often go bad due to corporate politics, removing features and punishing users. Secure, FOSS communication methods usually suffer from obscurity, and are typically still centralized, forcing the user to trust a server or to set up their own.

We think it's time that security and simplicity came together, available to everyone. Tox is an encrypted, peer-to-peer network for instant messaging, calling, and videochatting, one-on-one or in groups. This project is challenging Skype, TeamSpeak, even WhatsApp-- encryption is the default in the post-Snowden world, and users should have the power to use it everywhere. And because Tox is free (as in freedom, and as in price), it's a reliable base for the future. Tox is a core protocol and API that anyone can make a client for. Existing clients are listed on http://bit.ly/1jlBLFu, including:

• a cross-platform GTK client ( http://bit.ly/1bucKrq )

• a cross-platform Qt client ( http://bit.ly/1jlBLFv )

• an OS X client ( http://bit.ly/1bucMQ5 )

• an iOS client ( http://bit.ly/1jlBLFA )

• an Android client ( http://bit.ly/1bucKrr )

• an ncurses-based terminal client for Unix-likes ( http://bit.ly/1jlBLFB )

The Tox core has been shared all over the internet by inspired enthusiasts, and has drawn the attention of many developers. However, the clients haven't received nearly the same amount of publicity, and their developers need help to bring easy, secure communication to the masses.

We're writing this message for anyone interested in the idea of a better future, controlled by users rather than by corrupt corporations and governments. We're raising awareness of the various clients already available so that developers and users alike can jump in, and assist with testing and development. And since the core is a simple protocol library with an API (and with bindings available for many other languages), you can start your own client too.

If you fancy yourself more of a low-level programmer, help with the core is always appreciated: http://bit.ly/1bucKrs

Alpha downloads are built nightly at http://bit.ly/1jlBKBp if you want to try them out. Developers are always present over #tox-dev on freenode.

Thank you for your time. Together, we're going to make sure our future is one driven by people.

• Tox ( https://tox.im/ ), /r/projecttox

submitted by 12_year_old_girl to linux

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