Group Communication Platforms for GNU / Linux
The use of the available means by the human being to communicate, entertain and stay informed, such as Radio, TV and the Internet is of primary importance for the activities of the same. And in the case of the Internet, The intensive use of social media or interest groups requires the appropriate use of applications that allow the proper management of mass or group communications.
In the case of having any GNU / Linux Operating Systems, there are Group Communication Platforms that facilitate said person-to-person or group communications, by various meansi.e. write / read, voice or video. And in this publication we will mention some of the most important and used.
Introduction to Communication Applications
Communication applications or platforms have facilitated and increased person-to-person or inter-group communication being extremely useful by allowing effective and efficient communications between them from anywhere on the planet with access to the internet in real time through multiple communication channels.
In general terms, all applications or communication platforms facilitate daily life because they reduce distances and shorten response times., but in turn they influence culture and the way human beings behave, especially young people due to the influence of social networks and the use of the internet.
Communication Applications
Communication applications or platforms have been a widely used viable alternative to increase the levels of communication through the Internet for many around the world. The applications shown below are just some of the most used that come with native support (desktop clients) for GNU / Linux Operating Systems:
DialogMessenger
Modern and comfortable communication platform that allows: chats, groups, channels, audio calls and voice recognition. It has an easy to use interface and is compatible with chatbots. Specially designed for use in different devices focused on the business area, it has many practical functionalities.
Discord
It is a communication application via text or voice, in the style of «WhatsApp». It emerged as a communication application via text or voice for the gamer community (community of gamers), by showing its rapid communication capabilities, with total privacy security, and allowing to open servers / channels (groups) where they can interact several users safely and above all for free.
Facebook Messenger
It is the official messaging application of Facebook, which allows you to start written chats between contacts (friends) of the Facebook social network. It allows you to send and receive text messages, it also allows you to share images or our geographic location within the text messages, being able to even add several recipients and open chat windows with several people at the same time. What is executed by this desktop client can be seen from other means within the social network.
Jitsi
It is a multiplatform, free and open source client that operates with Instant Messaging (IM, in English), voice and video chat on the internet. It operates with many of the most popular and widely used Internet Messaging and Telephony protocols, including Jabber / XMPP and SIP Voice over IP (VoIP) protocol, among others. It operates with additional independent encryption for IM via OTR (Off-the-Record) protocol and for voice and video sessions via ZRTP and SRTP.
Linphone
Cross-platform client that uses the standard SIP protocol for VoIP communications and is licensed under a GNU GPL license. For GNU / Linux, its interface is developed with GTK +, and it can also be run in console mode. It is also compatible with the ITSP protocol and allows free voice, video and instant messaging communication.
mumble
It is an open source voice chat application, characterized by its low latency and high quality, designed mainly to be used in video conferences or conferences during a group session for games or work meetings, such as interviews. Mumble is free software, therefore it is free and has a very flexible license.
Ring
It is a secure and distributed voice, video, and chat communication platform that requires no centralized server and leaves the power of privacy in the hands of the user. is an open source software for communication that allows its users to make audio or video calls and send messages safely and freely, confidentially. It can be associated with a conventional telephone service or integrated with any connected telephone device.
Riot
Riot is an Internet Messaging Client that allows connection to the communication platform built on the open standard of matrix.org, which allows to communicate to users and chat rooms of all applications connected to the Matrix platform, such as IRC and Slack, and any client compatible with Matrix. Hence, Riot is an entry point to a global and fully open ecosystem. Thanks to its decentralized architecture inherited from the Matrix, and its support for end-to-end encryption, Riot strives to eliminate this concern and make privacy second nature. Riot is open source and enables faster innovation, greater flexibility, and control for those who want to audit, extend code, and contribute to the wider community.
Rocket Chat
This platform Simple but powerful open source web chat has a multiplatform Desktop Client that offers an excellent variety of tools and features. Among its features is that it is highly configurable, allow Live Chat, Videoconferencing, File Sharing, Tex Math Representation and Screen Sharing between users.
Slack
It is a group communication platform that allows real-time communication between team members, allowing them to attach documents and even private chat, so that no external element can distract that team that works in a coordinated way, leaving a trace of all activity . It is an endless repository that can be accessed once the project is finished and review attachments, messages, what went wrong and what went right.
Skype or Whatsapp
It is a multiplatform application that allows everyone to communicate, by obtaining an email account belonging to the Microsoft corporation (Outlook, Hotmail, among others), making free individual and group calls and video calls, sending instant messages and sharing files with other people who use Skype. It is free to download and it is easy to use, in addition, paying a little allows you to call phones and send SMS messages.
Teamspeak
It is a communication platform that allows, through its multiplatform desktop client, to carry out voice chat over the Internet (IP), allowing users to talk on a channel with other users, as is done in programs like Skype. The TeamSpeak Client is lighter than other similar ones and has a series of channels in which to chat, consult things, among other things. Other functions that this program offers us is that we can create temporary channels with a password and be able to enter the people we want to speak. It has extensive security measures, allows file transfer, has built-in chat functions that allow easy communication of URLs and other text data.
Telegram
It is a communication platform that allows through its multiplatform desktop client that, like many others, allows sending high quality text messages, photos, videos, audio and video calls, labeling, sending GIF files and their famous stickers. It is also an application that will always be free, because it is inspired by open source, which makes its platform very secure thanks to its strong encryption and cloud base.
Tox
It is an application whose desktop client connects users with enormous security and privacy, that is, with a high rate that no one else listens or intervenes in the communication. While other reputable services are paid for the same level of quality, Tox is completely free and comes ad-free for life. Tox is a FOSS (Free and Open Source) project. It is open source and all development is open as well, it is developed by volunteer developers who spend their free time on it, so there is no company or other legal organization behind it.
Viber
It is a multiplatform communication application that has a variety of calling and messaging features, which allows endless options for its users to express themselves to the limit. It allows the sending of texts, photos, videos, audio calls and high-quality video calls, the tagging and sending of GIF files for a more genuine, entertaining and expressive communication. It also allows the creation of communities (groups) to facilitate the handling of conversations with an unlimited number of members, and the deletion of messages among many other things.
There are other platforms with or without desktop clients for GNU / Linux or Multiplatforms that may be useful depending on your communication requirements, such as:
I invite you to download, try and use some to improve your levels of communication, security, privacy and comfort on the Internet. And if you are looking for any other category of applications for your GNU / Linux Operating System, look in this other blog post for the same: Essential and important applications for GNU / Linux 2018/2019
Thanks but ,,,
I would have liked more if you had made two sections, one first with the FOSS applications and the other second with the proprietary ones, and at the end a table of characteristics.
What you write about RING in the last paragraph, it is not understood very well, I think it would be better written this way:
You can configure your work IP phone number in it - if you have it - by calling or answering from wherever you want with the landline number of your desk with its reduced rates and / or configure a user, being able to call already known IP phones the other contacts via internet.
Receiving flat rate calls from a fixed number on the mobile, as well as making calls from the mobile using the fixed number of the company with reduced rates for it, is not done too much, but it is one of the great advantages of untapped IP telephony Until now.
Thanks for your comment! Certainly that style of dividing the content into 2 publications would not have been bad at all, it hurts that I did not consider it that way.
Although the idea was only to mention in alphabetical order some of the many known and others not so much, in terms of communication platforms.
And when it comes to Ring, what you added is very good. Anyway, there is already a good article on Ring on the Blog. I invite you to read it, although it is not very up to date: https://blog.desdelinux.net/ring-un-sustituto-de-skype-en-gnulinux/
Good article! The number of programs that exist to establish assertive communication is impressive! I work with COMPARESOFTWARE and we take care that the search and comparison of different software is efficient and objective, so I thought your article was very good. On our website, in addition to many of those in your article, other programs such as REVE chat and Freshchat are mentioned that are also excellent, especially for the business environment. Regards.
Thank you for your comment and contribution of those other 2 apps.