Looks like the skype client for linux might become open source. Though I could see them keeping a closed-source API library and just having the UI be open source.
It would definitely be a step up. One of the most annoying things about Skype for Linux used to be audio problems (especially with pulseaudio when it was new). There still are issues I have with it (sometimes audio will 'die' either audio-in or audio-out requiring a restart of Skype to get it working again) though to a lesser extent.
If they could separate out the business logic (communicating with the network, using proprietary protocals, etc) from the interface logic (UI, access to local audio-in/out, access to local video-in/out) it would be a major boon. Though open-sourcing the whole thing might be nice, it could have unexpected consequences (easier to filter Skype with DPI, allow NSA/CIA/etc to tap calls, etc).
I don't know how reliable it is, but I've heard that the reason that the NSA can't tap Skype calls is because the protocol/keys/whatever is changed behind the scenes every-so-often.
There are a few companies that do a VoIP -> Skype bridge by scripting the Linux client. In line with your comment an open source client would make that kind of hack more reliable.
Awesome, now we can finally get proper support for Skype in FreeSWITCH and Asterisk. Everything up to this point (with the exception of the closed-source Asterisk beta) has been a hack.
