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"Recently, there have been some rumors swirling around about Skype becoming open source (for Linux), originating with a French blog.\nThe news has continued to spread, so Skype representatives have posted an entry on the Skype for Linux blog clarifying the situation. Sort of. Without going into too much detail, Skype says that an open source version of the Linux client is being developed. This is not the same thing as the Skype code itself becoming open source.Skype for Linux has always lagged behind in development from its Windows and Mac counterparts and users of certain Linux distributions can have problems installing Skype in part because the client is rarely updated frequently enough to work with the latest kernel iterations. Moreover, because Skype is a proprietary application, it isn't installed by default in most Linux distributions and finding it in repositories (even multi-verse repositories) can be difficult. \nSkype makes a point to mention \"an open source UI\" \u2014 which makes us think that it will just be the GUI libraries that will be open sourced, not any of the underlying VoIP or communications libraries. In other words, it might be easier for the Gnome or KDE teams to integrate Skype into the existing X-Windows platforms, but the base of what makes Skype work will still be closed off.\nRegardless, any chance at an open source client is good news for Linux users, because at least the community will have a shot at making the client more compatible and easier to install.\nDo you use Skype on Linux? What do you think of Skype opening up some of its code? Let us know!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/11/02/skype-for-linux-open-sourc/>