Open source web conferencing

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to attend a webinar but quickly discovered that the web-conference service doesn't even support your operating system? This has happened to me several times and it irks me greatly! I always make sure to tell the company that they should switch their web-conferencing service to one that supports multiple platforms including Linux.

It is somewhat hypocritical when an open source company offers a webinar about their open source product, but they don't allow customers with open source operating systems like Linux to attend. I ran into this ridiculous issue when trying to attend a Zimbra webinar. I told them that it was wrong for them to have such great multi-platform support in their product and at the same time only allow Windows users to participate in their webinars. We'll see if they take that advice to heart.

Fortunately for us, there are companies that offer cross-platform support for web-conferencing. Even better, there are a small handful of open source projects that provide the features of a web-conference service. This means that you can host your own web-conferences without having to pay for a service. I am going to briefly describe three such open source projects.

DimDim

DimDim is probably the most advanced of the open source projects I have found. This could be related to the fact that they have commercial sponsorship. They offer a free hosted version if you do not want to download and run DimDim on your own server. I definitely recommend that you give DimDim a try.

WebHuddle

What are the main benefits of using WebHuddle?
  • Simple - The client runs in your web browser, through firewalls and proxies, and requires no installation. The user interface is intuitive and requires little or no training.
  • Secure - The industry-standard HTTPS protocol secures all network communication.
  • Small - The client applet weighs in at only 75 to 175 kilobytes, depending on platform and features used.
  • Standard - WebHuddle works on Java-enabled Linux, Windows, Unix, and Mac operating systems. WebHuddle uses the same protocol as web browsers, HTTPS, so your IT department doesn’t need to get involved.
  • Open Source - Leverage the many benefits of open source software, including value, transparency, and flexibility. If you find WebHuddle useful you may download it and freely install it on your own hardware.

OpenMeetings

Features:
  • Video/Audio
  • See Desktop of any participant
  • Multi-Language and Customizable
  • Whiteboard with drawing, write & edit, dragNDrop, Resizeing, Images (DragNDrop from Library), Symbol(s)
  • Conference while drawing (4x4 or 1xn modus)
  • Safe Drawings / whiteboard and load it next time, edit and resave
  • Import Documents
  • Send invitation and direct Links into a meeting
  • Moderating System
  • User-/Organisation-/Moderating- System
  • Backup and Language Module (LanguageEditor, BackupPanel)
  • Private and Public (Organisation only) Conference-Rooms
  • Technologies used, see TechnologyPortfolio

Comments

  1. Anonymous1/17/2008 8:45 AM

    Thank you, I've been bashing my head against several walls with this same issue for the last two weeks. As a stopgap, we used WengoMeeting which is entirely browser based (Flash), and which I never would have noticed if it weren't for WengoPhone, the GPL'd cross platform VoIP + video solution similar to Ekiga.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1/17/2008 4:02 PM

    You found couple quite interesting ones. At last conferencing solutions with audio & video.

    That brought to my mind.. Actually, many people would be happy enough with RAT and VIC and friends if they just were given a small facelift (gtk widgets, compile the branches that have h264 codec etc). I considered doing that facelift myself but then I saw the spaghetti that is waiting and that is required... :-(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous1/18/2008 2:57 PM

    Another solid product to check out!

    http://epresence.tv/products

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1/18/2008 6:19 PM

    ReadyTalk is another one - http://www.readytalk.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1/18/2008 10:14 PM

    Thank you very much, this is what I was just looking for today!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1/19/2008 1:58 AM

    Thank you very much for information!!
    Did you try any of the above packages? Can you comment on their stability, performance and user friendliness.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1/21/2008 4:21 PM

    Webex has multi-platform support:
    http://support.webex.com/support/system-requirements.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3/10/2008 6:22 AM

    Thanks for the informative stuff mate. I think www.rhubcom.com is also supports all platforms and is a one stop solution for all needs for collaboration, seminars, training, remote support,marketing etc.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous3/26/2008 1:38 AM

    Thanks for the information. I am trying to find a tool. Can you recommend anyone in particular?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous5/19/2008 9:05 PM

    Here is another one support cross-platform webinar. Pixion|PictureTaalk

    www.pixion.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous6/02/2008 10:54 PM

    Thank you for that information. I've been looking for good open source conferencing software for weeks now. I appreciate the time/energy you used in collecting and sharing this with us.

    When I get one of these running on my website, I'll drop you a URL and give you access to repay the favor.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous8/04/2008 5:03 PM

    DimDim's current source code is not available. It has taken a huge effort on the part of the open source community just to get v3 source code released. Ironically, they are hosted on SourceForge.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8/19/2008 3:50 PM

    one would have thought that a browser based product would work on all platforms. did the problem arise because of zimbra's downloadable Zimlets? we use HyperMeeting, as far as i know its completely browser based and works on any OS with a web browser.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8/19/2008 3:52 PM

    the link is http://www.hypermeeting.com if anyone is interested.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous11/12/2008 8:27 AM

    web conferencing is one easier way to communicate with other people...the technology is evolving it offers a lot of features that makes our life more convenient...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sagar Tanksali7/11/2011 4:03 AM

    Thanks. I tried WebHuddle between an Ubuntu machine and a Windows machine. It works fabulously. BTW, all these sexy Mandarin speakers, are they your friends? :)

    ReplyDelete

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