Open Source Web Conferencing Apps Make Meetings Easier

by Lisa Hoover - Aug. 19, 2009Comments (4)

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So many meetings, so little time. With the amount of remote teams spread out all over the globe while working together on projects, it's amazing anything gets done. The advent of Web conferencing has made group collaboration a lot easier and, for some businesses, it's the only way to keep everyone on the same page. Let's take a look at some popular open source Web conferencing apps that keep everyone chatting happily while they get things done.

We've covered Dimdim a lot here at OStatic. It's a full-featured free Web conferencing app that raised $6 million in Series B funding last year and has taken aim at expensive commercial options like Cisco System's WebEx and Microsoft's Placeware. Up to 20 people at a time can get together withDimdim's free version which also includes audio and video sharing, event recording, whiteboards, and private messaging.

The next time you need to hold a Web conference with your team or customers, consider giving VMukti a try. This real time audio and video conferencing tool includes just about everything you need to hold a good meeting over the Internet or your own intranet and, best of all, it's open source and free-as-in-beer. VMutki includes a meeting scheduler, whiteboard, image and desktop sharing, and full contact list management right inside the app.

Available in more than 20 languages,Openmeetings is a highly customizable Web conferencing app that includes desktop sharing and whiteboards, along with remote adminstration tools, a moderating system, and a tool for importing documents in 32 different formats. Openmeetings also integrates well with the educational learning management system Moodle.

Webhuddle is a simple, easy-to-use conferencing tool with a very small footprint (about 125 KB). Designed for small business use, Webhuddle runs in any Web browser and encrypts all data by HTTPS protocol. Users can upload all types of content for meetings, including PowerPoint and Impress presentations, ZIP files, JPEG images, and more.

This is by no means a complete list of open source Web conferencing tools so I'd be interested in hearing about others. Let me know your favorites in the comments.

Flickr image courtesy of Sir Adavis.


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Dawn Giorgio uses OStatic to support Open Source, ask and answer questions and stay informed. What about you?



4 Comments
 

That is a GREAT post on conferencing, which is really gaining speed in the market. I can recommend a great conferencing guide for newbees to use when figuring out how to get started. The “Quick Start Guide for Web Conferencing”, which I got on Amazon.com, got me up and running in about 25 minutes:


http://www.amazon.com/Web-Conferencing-Quick-Start-Guide/dp/1448649781/r...


I read that the www.webconferencingcouncil.com had a non-technical relative of equipped with a a Dell E6400 with Windows XP, complete with built-in camera & microphone test this book to see if it was truly a quick start. This relative was able to start a multi-point meeting in 17 minutes, was able to share her desktop and present an online presentation (Microsoft PowerPoint) in under 25 minutes, and even started using the voting and whiteboarding features within 30 minutes - all of it witnessed but uncoached. I was a little bit faster but I am more technical than most.


0 Votes

anyone tried this

http://code.google.com/p/bigbluebutton/


it seems it will better then any of those apps you have mentioned


0 Votes

Those are very good tools, however, in many cases those platforms are used just to allow the team to review the same document together in real-time and "be on the same page".

The recently launched free site http://www.showdocument.com does exactly that, quickly show documents to friends and colleagues.

It allows web meeting and co-browsing on any document, user uploads a document and invites friends to view it with him live

All the participants in the session see each others' drawing, highlights, etc.


Josh


0 Votes

Anyone considered a nonhosted service? I'm interested in the RHUB 4-in-1 appliance approach. It includes web conferencing, remote support, remote access, webinars all in one box which I think is great so there is no need for serperate accounts for everything. Has anyone had experience using their product?


Their website:

http://www.rhubcom.com


0 Votes
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