Freddy,
Thanks for the excellent clarification. You are correct when you say that I was confusing MSN Messenger with Windows Messenger. I had no idea that Windows Messenger even existed.
A quick search on the internet found me a lot of info about Windows Messenger. It looks like a groovy new SIP capable replacement for MSN Messenger, but runs only on XP (not a problem).
According to the Microsoft page at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/worki01.mspx Windows Messenger seems to have all the typical firewall and NAT traversal problems that are standard to SIP.
I think you have said that Windows Messenger can tunnel through NATs and firewalls if I download SER (Sip Express Router) from www.iptel.org (an open source freebie according to the webpage, yay!) and run an SER server on a Linux box which is directly on the internet with no NATs or firewalls of its own.
Just to make sure I am understanding this: SER runs only on Linux. Can two Windows Messenger clients behind separate firewalls tunnel all of their audio/video/whiteboard streams through the SER server without my needing to install any special converter software on the Windows Messenger PCs or anywhere within their local firewalls, and still happily traverse those local firewalls? I am asking this question because using gnugk to perform a similar tunneling trick requires installing a separate local gnugk with each netmeeting client, or at least within the same firewall, in addition to a third gnugk on the open internet.
As an aside, is Windows Messenger a SIP-only program or can it be easily configured to use H323 instead, which would allow me to do the tunneling with gnugk instead of SER?
Simple questions about Windows Messenger which are hard to find answers to on the Microsoft site:
Is it a free download? Or does Microsoft figure out some sneaky way to make you pay for it eventually?
If I am using the SER server, do I need to get a user account with Microsoft?
Do I need to pay a monthly fee to MS to use voip and whiteboard?
I will definately be looking into Windows Messenger some more.
thanks again,
Michael
Freddy Parra wrote: I'm actually referring to Windows Messenger which is different from MSN Messenger. Windows Messenger does not need to use Netmeeting's H323 capabilities for it to be able to do VOIP, Video, or White Board Services. Microsoft probably took these services from Netmeeting and build them into Windows Messenger so that they can be use via SIP. Windows Messenger uses SIP to establish the session between other SIP clients and opens up the channels for these types of services to be exchanged. These channels of service information can be proxy or exchange directly between each. But this is an entire other realm. It's an alternative to H323. As to which one you use, depends what you're trying to accomplish and what client protocols are being used.
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