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Three Alternatives to GoToMeeting / WebEx
I participate in a good number of “virtual” conferences mainly software demos from companies that either want some feedback or are pitching a story. Most of the conferences use either WebEx or GoToMeeting. Today on the nextNY list, David Reinke from StyleHop asked for some alternatives that are either free or lower cost than GoToMeeting and/or WebEx. The group provided a few suggestions and they are listed below.
Adobe Acrobat Connect Now
Hank Williams suggested Adobe Acrobat Connect Now which provides a free service up to 3 participants. For over 3 and up to 1,500 the Pro version is available for $0.32/min/user. The tools include remote control, whiteboard, desktop sharing, video conferencing and unique meeting URLs. I’ve only used the tool once and if I remember we had some issues getting the meeting running but after it started all went smoothly.
Yugma
Yugma was my suggestion and an application we reviewed back in January 2007. Yugma offers Skype integration, desktop sharing, teleconferencing, file storage and meeting recording. Yugma runs using Java. Up to 20 participants is free and Pro plans start at $15 and go up to $180/month. I like Yugma because there’s no app to install unlike WebEx and the various times I’ve used the service, it’s worked well.
DimDim
Peter Chislett offered up DimDim as an alternative suggestion. Peter notes, “All features (video, screen sharing, voice, document sharing, whiteboard, etc.) are no-fee for an audience of 20, pro-version
thereafter. Webcam is limited to one in the free version.” The Pro version is available at $20/month for meetings up to 50 people. DimDim offers a slick widget to allow site and blog visitors to participate in a conference call or meeting. DimDim is available as open source so you can add it to your own applications.
Do you use one of the three above or another solution? Leave your thoughts in the comments and I will add them to the post.
I use the free version of Adobe ConnectNow for small meetings. I am really impressed with the service. The desktop sharing works really nicely (in the free version, that particular feature only works on Windows, but the Pro version supposedly works on all platforms). If you’re not using the desktop sharing portion of the app, there is no software to install on your computer, either. It works completely through Flash, so it’s usable by anyone with Flash installed.
The pricing for ConnectPro is actually extremely variable, depending on your intended application of the product. Adobe even offers it as an application you can install and run on your own server if you don’t want to rely on theirs.
From your description of Yugma, I am very interested in trying it out. I will probably give it a shot in the next few weeks and see how it works for us.
Allen-
Thanks for the Dimdim mention. We’re working hard to make web conferencing available to everyone, that’s why Dimdim Free lets you meet with 20 people in the room without charging you for basic features like sharing slides, desktop, whiteboard, audio/video, and the ability to record your meetings.
Once you’ve had a chance to give it a try, let me know what you think.
Thanks.
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter: @dimdim
facebook: dimdim.com/facebook
Microsoft has a free web conference tool called SharedView, it works really good.
http://www.connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=94
Eric Tsai
designdamage.com
We frequently use DimDim. It’s pretty sweet. Works on Windows and MacOSX and the install required is very, very easy. Everyone gets it. :)
The only issues we had was when the presenter used a mobile connection — got kinda slow. But that’s probably not DimDim’s fault, but the technology used to connect to the Internet.
Anyway, I’m pretty convinced. They do a great job!
We have an online meeting solution that is JAVA based and very easy to use. No downloads! Screensharing! Whiteboards! Polling! No phone lines, equals high quality audio! Non proprietary archive. Free trial for two (2) weeks for up to 25 attendees, unlimited!!!
Thought I’d just throw Yuuguu into the mix. Its a free, cross platform screen sharing, IM & remote control tool.
We (I’m one of the dev team) use it to develop the product and we all work remotely.
To host a session, you need the client installed (a simple setup process, 10meg download) but viewers don’t have to install anything and can use any flash-enabled browser. It also integrates with GTalk, MSN, AOL, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger so you can share your screen with external contacts.
Regards, Phill.
Hi Allen,
Just like to let you know about a software app you may wish to check out: Mikogo http://www.mikogo.com
Mikogo is a desktop sharing tool for online meetings, remote support and web conferencing. It’s free for commercial use and includes many features such as remote keyboard/mouse control, recording, switch presenter, whiteboard, file transfer, application selection, and more. And you can use all features for as long and often as you wish.
I’d be happy to send you further details on Mikogo, so please feel free to contact me.
Cheers!
Andrew Donnelly
The Mikogo Team
Twitter: @Mikogo
Hi Allen,
have you ever heard about TeamViewer? TeamViewer is a remote control and desktop sharing solution of the TeamViewer GmbH in Germany (http://www.teamviewer.com). TeamViewer establishes connections to any PC or server all around the world within just a few seconds. You can remote control a partners desktop to give online assistance, or you can show your screen to a customer – all without worrying about firewalls, IP addresses and NAT. TeamViewer also has a lot of other features. All this is free for personal use. Find out why more than 15.000.000 users trust TeamViewer!
All the best,
Jasmin
TeamViewer GmbH Germany
[...] after a free trial. A 20-user Dimdim account is also available for free. Check out our look at WebEx alternatives for more information about Dimdim. [...]
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