Wengo Releases Flash Softphone For Web Pages

bolsh writes "Wengo, a French company specializing in VoIP and instant messaging, and patron of the OpenWengo project (previously featured in Free Software magazine and here on Slashdot), has just released WengoVisio — a Flash softphone that you can download and embed in your Web page, to allow readers to call you when you're available through their browser, without downloading any software. (Disclaimer: I work for Wengo, on the OpenWengo project.) It's functionally cut down from the full Wengophone, but it's enough to be able to make a phone call in a Web page for the first time."

Advertisers will love this

[Timesprout]

"Click here to speak to one of our representatives now"

Should attract a lot of impulse buyers.

Wengo a Skype replacement? (Open Source, SIP)

[Futurepower(R)]

The Wengo people need to hire someone who can help them communicate in writing. There are translation errors and other mistakes on their web site, too.

However, here is the question that is important for most Slashdot readers: Is WengoPhone a good replacement for Skype?. WengoPhone [wengophone.com] is open source and SIP compatible.

Did anyone else read it as...

[fahrbot-bot]

"Wengo Releases Flesh Softporn For Web Pages"?

I guess I need to have my eyes. Of course, the way people are addicted to Web Tech these days, I may be on to something - so to speak.

Re:Weird name & interoperability Q

[pavon]

The Wengo Visio product does include video chat.

WengoPhone is an SIP based application that can be used with whatever SIP provider you want, as well as being able to interoperate with AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and Jabber (including Google Chat). Who you can talk to then depends on which SIP networks your SIP provider allows calls to. If you use Wengo as your provider, they only allow calls to other Wengo users. It is one of the more frustrating things about SIP - from a technical point-of-view there is little preventing networks from interoperating, but so many are walled off to varying degrees for business reasons.

As for Wengo Visio, it's sole purpose it to let people without VOIP software/accounts to talk to you, so interoperability only affects what software you have to run. From the sparse amount of information on the website, it appears to require a wengo account and WengoPhone software, but it is SIP based and therefore might be able to be setup to connect to any SIP account / software.

Re:What's the purpose?

[TheRaven64]

The best customer support I have had recently was from a retail place that provided something like an IRC client on their support page. You go to the site, connect to the chat, and they resolve the problem.

That was fine for me, I type quickly, and I'm at home with text (and I liked the ability to keep an exact record of the conversation). A lot of people, however, prefer to use voice for that kind of thing. Imagine putting a link on your support site saying 'click here to talk to a customer support representative,' and having it just work. You can route it to any SIP phone, or to a POTS line, and the customer doesn't have to know any of the technical details. If I were setting up support for a company these days, I would want to offer both solutions; text for those that don't have a microphone, voice for those that do.

My hosting company uses iChat for support; I can bing-bong them with quick queries, or have a full video or audio chat if that's more useful. Having the CEO and CTO on your Jabber roster, and the ability to bitch at them directly when things break, provides a certain level of confidence in a company that you rarely find these days.

Re:This is similar to Camfrog

[UncleTogie]

If they can sign, can't they type? I guess I don't understand why that or pen and paper are not realistic. I mean I think the idea for automatic translation of sign language is a really great (and frankly cool) idea, I just don't see how it'd be worth the increased cost over a pen and paper or typing in almost all situations.

Suuuuuuuuure.... Somehow, being able to sign gives you YEARS of keyboarding experience to quickly [in poor health/ill/rabid/blurred vision] type out your problem. Usin' that logic, since you're able to peck out a message on /., you've got the piano keyboard skills to play Für Elise with no training, right?

This is why my family and I haven't bothered to learn ASL or other variants. VERY few people sign, but darn near EVERYONE talks. We've invested our time more in learning to lip-read. It's not perfect, but does MUCH more to enhance communication than the blank looks you get when trying to sign to all but a few.

HERE is something we could use: A system to read lips FOR us, to a text screen. Before I'm inundated with the "utterly lazy" tag, let me explain. I'm around 70% deaf, and my main problem with reading lips, other than everyone's slightly different accent/pronunciation, is that you've generally got to be in pretty good mental shape to DO so. It's like translating; you have to take the "lipshapes" and make 'em into "words" in your head. If I'm sick, inebriated, delirious, or my vision's blurring in and out, it's almost impossible. Give me some screen text to focus on for a few secs and I'll be able to make out what's being said... Some here might suggest just handing a laptop/PDA/keyboard back and forth, but trust a guy that's worked with a LOT of doctors: most would be lucky to break 5 words a minute.

Just the deaf hippie's two cents.