OStatic

Asterisk, the handy VoIP solution for making phone calls that I mentioned recently, just got a whole lot more attractive. Today Digium, the company behind the open source telephony software, announced the availability of Skype for Asterisk. With the new download, Asterisk users can call landlines, cellular devices, and other Skype users, right from any Asterisk-based phone.

Given that companies can simply download Skype for Business right from Skype's Web site, Digium's offering might seem like little more than an ease-of-use solution to help users avoid juggling multiple apps to make phone calls. However, it's actually much more than that.

A new beta version of Skype for Linux has been released and includes a slew of new features that Linux users have been waiting for a long time. There are also a few tweaks and UI changes that will make using Skype on Linux a better overall experience for anyone who uses this popular client to make calls via their computer.

Here's a list of all the new features and some of the improvements you'll find in Skype version 2.1.0.47 for Linux: