With highlighted features such as a completely new user interface, new audio codecs and faster startup time, Ekiga 4.0 has now arrived, three years after the last major release. The open source SoftPhone and Instant Messanger client offers the user the ability to connect to SIP and H.323 telephony services for free audio and video calls over the internet. Dubbed "The Victory Release" by the developers, the 4.0 release's major feature is a new user interface which includes an improved roster window, separate call dialogs and enhanced chat and accounts windows.



Ekiga 4.0 on a call

Source: Ekiga.org GNOME 3 users will also find better integration with the desktop's notifications and the removal of the tray icon. A new PulseAudio plugin widens the audio systems that the SoftPhone can work with while additional codecs such as SILK, G.722.1 and G.722.2 along with H.264 video optimisations should improve interoperability. The new version includes a number of fixes both to usability and to SIP support. There's also partial support for the H.239 standard for multiple video streams, fixes for the LDAP plugin, corrections for the Jabber/XMPP and GStreamer plugins and better audio accuracy with some audio cards. A list of the changed features is available in the announcement while a more comprehensive list of all of Ekiga 4.0's functionality is available on the project's web site.

Ekiga is available to download as source or as a binary for Windows. Ekiga is available in many Linux distribution repositories but version 4.0 has yet to reach most of them. The application is licensed, mostly, under the GPLv2 with some exceptions for interoperability.

(djwm)