Ring is multi-media communication platform with secured multi-media
channels, that doesn't require centralized servers to work. It is
developed by Savoir-faire Linux, a Canadian company located in
Montréal, Québec. It is a potential free-software replacement for
Skype, and possibly more.
What inspired the creation of Ring?
The way everyone perceives the world changed when Edward Snowden,
Wikileaks and others started to massively warn the public about global
surveillance made by our states, network control companies and so
on. The need of software solutions that give back the control to user
has never been as urgent as before. As citizens of democracies and
professionals of free software, we are worried about how frequently
this concentration of our private data is controlled by monolithic
internet giants. This is a real problem for the real global economy
and makes a serious roadblock to innovation. These are our main
reasons to make something different.
In conjunction with these concerns, Savoir-faire Linux developed
another project just before: SFLPhone. It was only usable in a
centralized concept (SIP or IAX servers was necessary), and
communication wasn't secured by encryption/authentication. This first
experience was a good starting point to propose something more
evolved. Even though Ring is currently in alpha version, it allows
decentralization and secure communication, whatever the media
exchanged.
All these matters are our guiding rules and we invite developers who
want to join this project to contribute.
How are people using it?
Within Savoir-faire Linux, we use it as our main phone, some even only
use Ring to make calls. We also use it as a video conferencing tool
for our daily communications with our different branches over the
world.
In our team, one of us has even built an Arduino based circuit to
connect Ring to the lights of his house: he can turn them on/off from
distance.
Our great beta-testers (that can be even our mum, dad, friends, ...)
use Ring to make calls and they mostly use the instant message feature
that they like a lot. It's fantastic to hear when someone outside of
our daily job environment gives Ring a try and judges it awesome, even
in the current stage alpha stage. The instant messaging is
particularly used by such users.
As we're also active in local meetups (here at Montreal), where some
free-software enthusiasts are present, to demonstrate our
technology. First impressions make us confident in our decisions.
What features do you think really sets Ring apart from similar software?
Ring is a particular piece of software for at least three reasons:
-
The interoperability over communication protocols and the goal to
make it available for anyone, not just a group of crypto-savvy
enthusiasts. We target the universality concept into Ring: as an
example, we don't support XMPP yet, but there is nothing in the
design that could block it's implementation. Developers are welcome!
-
The fact we intend to support decentralization (DHT) and industrial
standards like SIP in the same application.
-
Our layered design permits the use of its low-level core to make
something completely different from our current clients. Ring allows
prospects with the Internet of Things.
Why was the GPLv3 chosen as Ring's license?
Ring comes from SFLPhone, already under GPLv3 license. It was always
obvious to use it for Savoir-faire Linux, especially when we are
looking at the goals of the Ring software. So it has always be evident
to use GLPv3 if we think about the goals of the software itself:
- To be "hackable": re-use for your needs, provides seeds of our near
future.
- To let people see what we do at SFL: we provide skills; software is
just a tool or an artefact of that.
Only GPL can give the necessary guarantees to achieve that.
How can users (technical or otherwise) help contribute to Ring?
The most important is to use our available front-ends for your daily
usage. Replace non-free solutions and grow the mesh: it's so important
due to the distributed nature of Ring. We need to grow to securise
(secure) the DHT mesh.
Immediately after this, comes the translation of Ring: better
accessibility is a key of the wide usage success. Then we're free
software, so the code is ready for «happy-hacking» . We're waiting for
security analysis, enhancements, patchsets, ... pick up the code and
let us know what you think about it. For sure we try to do that
everyday, but we're a relatively small team to realize all these
tasks.
Community, we're waiting for you help!
For that we propose various public tools:
What's the next big thing for Ring?
As Ring is in alpha development stage, we always have ideas to improve
or enhance it, so the list is long. In the immediate future we want to
deliver an Android version of our front-end. After that we have
discussion channels (chat) in a generic way (during a call, a
conference, "out-of-call", ...). Then fast and secure file sharing
(that comes after a way to propose a warranted generic data stream
channel). Right after, we are working on a way to provide a
"distributed services" framework: DNS, routing or whatever anyone is
able to dream about the final usage, we want to provide a solid
solution to make it real. We plan to enter in beta stage in the early
of part 2016 sprint.
Enjoy this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series,
featuring Michael Lissner and Brian Carver of RECAP The Law.
