Screen Sharing and Web Meeting Software

[Jay Albright]

I recently threw together a quick screen share with EOKHQ members Leonard Knight and Chris Austin, and thought that others might be interested in my experiences with several different options for holding simple Screen Shares or more sophisticated Web Meetings. I've tried to include some of the differentiating features, but each service will have a more complete list of features on their respective websites. With all of these services, we use a seperate Tele-Conferencing service for audio, although most of the services described provide some form of VOIP based audio service, either free or for an additional fee.

The original player, and probably still the 'Gold Standard' in this field is WebEx, now owned by Cisco Systems. We used WebEx at Rockwell Automation way back in late '90's, and at a small startup called Vykor in the early-mid 2000's. It is still around, primarily serving large corporations. It's forte is Web Meetings and larger Web Conferences. It requires (at least it did the last time I used it -- admittedly several years ago.) a pretty 'heavy' (i.e. 'large') client download. It's also very spendy, which combines with the other factors to make it not ideal for most startups and entrepreneuers.

The next player is GoToMeeting. We've used GoToMeeting for the last two years in my current company, Beyond Wine & Cheese Marketing, although we are just about to leave them for one of the other services mentioned below. My impression of GoToMeeting is that it was created with WebEx directly in its sights, and its service and pricing are attractive for small businesses (relative to WebEx at least). It's relatively easy to use, full-featured, and moderatly priced at $49 per month. GoToMeeting has a limit of 15 attendees per meeting, which is why we actually use GoToWebinar, their Web Conferencing system. It works pretty much the same, but with a pre-registration function that we do like and no limit on the number of participants. It costs $99 per month for one host account. Both require every attendee to download a client application to participate.

Newer to the market are a bunch of players that can be ideal for small businesses and entrepreneuers. Most of these services really target simple Screen Sharing for small collaboration groups, although many have the capabilities of hosting larger Web Meetings.

Gatherplace is what I currently am working with for our Web Meetings, although we are at a very early stage of usage. Leo and Chris both found attending to be very simple and straightforward, which is our #1 criteria (many of our clients are not very technically savvy). It does not require a client download for attendees, although its standard attendee function does require that Java be installed in the client's browser (if Java is dis-abled, or not installed and the user doesn't want to install it, then the client can join the meeting using a strictly HTML based browser only session). Another key feature is that you can host meetings from a Mac, which is something that neither WebEx nor GoToMeeting allow. There are some limits to Gatherplace functionality, but they seem well established with an active development group that are constantly adding features. Pricing starts at $29 per month for up to 5 attendee meetings.

Another service I've tried is Yugma. This is also a service that allows Macs to host meetings, and it doesn't require a client download for attendees. They also provide a moderate amount of shared file space, which matches up nicely with their focus on team collaboration. Yugma only provides "desktop sharing" which means you share everything that is seen on your screen, as opposed to "application sharing" which lets you restrict sharing to one application (better security). It's pricing is more moderate, starting at $29 per month (there is a free 'personal' version).

Glance is another desktop sharing application that I've trialed. It doesn't require a client download, and has a basic set of features for about $50 per month. Like Gatherplace, it allows you to have people join a Web Meeting directly from your website, which allows you to control the experience to a greater degree, and promotes better brand identity for your own company rather than theirs.

37Signals has a highly regarded suite of sharing and collaboration tools. I've used Basecamp, their project management app, but not their collaboration tools, although based on the company's reputation and my experience with them, any product that they've developed is likely to be very good indeed.

There are other services out there (just Google for "web meeting" or "screen sharing") but this is a pretty good roundup of some of the better players. Almost all of these websites provide free trials so that you can sign up and test them without committing anything other than your time.

[Jay Albright]

An update: We spent significant time evaluating several alternatives and ended up staying with GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar. They have enhanced their software, and although some of the newcomers have some really useful enhancements that they do not have, I experienced quality and reliability with several other services that make me think they are not quite up to prime-time.

[Tina D. Shang]

We currently use GotoMeeting it is typically just myself and one or two others so GoToMeeting works well and is an affordable option for us. I will have to check out a few of the others mentioned. Thanks.

[Jeff Allen]

another solution is Adobe Acrobat Connect. It utilizes flash. The service includes unlimited online meetings with up to 15 participants with
screen sharing, whiteboard, chat, audio and video and the monthly subscription per their website is 39.95.

[Edward MacFawn]

We have used yuuguu.com and dimdim.com at BIT Marine Software with success. My last experience with dimdim had a number of unexplained disconnects, but otherwise I have been happy with them both.

[Leonard Knight]

Excellent article. Thanks Jay!