/chat/ program

my normie friends want me to use skype but I don't want to use that buggy, bloaty, proprietary spyware botnet (see e.g. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_security#Eavesdropping_by_design). it also doesn't work well on linux. which chat program should I instead ask them to use? I thought about ICQ but I think they are too retarded to block the ads, plus it's also proprietary so I would have to launch it in a VM. what chat programs do real Cred Forumsentoomen use?

Any XMPP client. On your own server

edgy

Telegram: open source client, potential holes in server, requires phone number
Xmpp: established protocol with otr, can run own server, can't receive messages when offline
Tox: distributed and encrypted chat, buggy clients, can't receive messages offline
Matrix/riot: decentralized and can run own server, can do audio/video conferences, new and unpolished protocol and semi buggy server implementation

Currently trying first and last.

Why not fuck off and just use Skype web app instead of being the special snowflake who makes his friends change clients just for him/stupidity.

this, if your friends and family suck the microshaft you better be too.

fuck off shillposter. not my problem that you don't care about privacy.

caring about privacy and being an NEET cuck privacy user are exclusive of one another

etherpad with web-rtc chat plugin hosted on heroku
this is handsdown the best expirience

Not him.
But Skype objectively sucks. Like, it's probably about the worst thing for your privacy, but it also isn't good at anything it does.
I still run it for contact with my parents, but I'm currently looking for something, anything else.
I hate current Skype. I think it's more buggy than freaking Tox by this point.

Telegram.

>it also isn't good at anything it does.

I haven't used it in over 6 years.

But I was always impressed by the speed of file transfers.
We would use it to send files over the LAN, even DVD rips.
It appeared to do a direct connection over the LAN rather than go through the internet.

for me, file transfer has always been incredibly slow. it would be faster to upload a 3mb image to imgur and link the url than to transfer it directly. a lot has changed since skype was taken over by microsoft

Well, 6 years ago I was happy with it too, in fact. 6 years ago I would swear Skype was a revolutionary piece of software. And it was, in a way.
And yeah, I think it actually used P2P for connections, both video and files. It was actually an outlier in that regard. But Wikipedia just now tells me the old protocol was deprecated in 2014, and at the very least files come through the central servers now. Not sure about calls and chats.
But it sucks since Microsoft bought it. I didn't even know it at the time, but I noticed how it slowly became more and more bloated and riddled with ads, and the old versions which didn't have such problems would, of course, have their own bugs.
In the end, when I switched to Linux version, I actually found it an improvement. There are a ton of bugs there too, but at least I didn't have to go block ads, it didn't slow down quite as much, and the interface was better even without tabs (and became actually alright after I found an open-source so that rearranges the interface to be tabbed). Still, though, it's glitchy as fuck and extremely slow for me even there.
Fuck, I hope somebody comes and gives me an alternative soon, I will literally beg everyone I know switch to it if it's actually something that works at least alright.
Last time I checked those Tox guys seemed to pull their heads out of their asses and actually start committing to github after their guru left to deal with real world, maybe they can finally get something done.
Or if not them, then anybody honestly. I just want a good Skype alternative. Open-source is good, distributed is great, encrypted is excellent, but really, anything normie-friendly that has offline messaging and more than the most basic features. I just want to call my fucking parents through something that doesn't disconnect on a whim, is it so much to ask?

I use TeamSpeak as a nice and customizable VOIP client, regardless of whatever anyone can find to complain about.
As long as someone can port forward, you've got a free server limited only by your hardware.

If you're feeling particularly millennial and hipster, go use Discord which, as I have heard from second hand accounts, is pretty okay. It's Skype2 in regards to how it works with VOIP and text chat, but doesn't spy on you.

Would personally recommend TeamSpeak, though.

>it also doesn't work well on linux
The Linux version is better than the Windows version last I checked, because it's still back on the 2.x UI design, from back before it went to shit.

Discord. It's pretty based.

But it's not free in the slightest :^)

Discord web client
Costs nothing, same features as client, not buggy

Discord is a vast left-wing conspiracy to protect your civil liberties while inhibiting the consolidation of transnational corporate power

Xmpp you can receive messages when offline