Five web-based conferencing apps

MegaMeeting Video Player

One cool feature in MegaMeeting is the video player.  Simply paste the URL into the box provided and MegaMeeting will start playing that video for all of your attendees.  Here, I've embedded a CNET TV video of the iPhone 5.

AnyMeeting

AnyMeeting is a Java-based meeting space that supports up to 200 attendees.  The basic, free version is ad-supported and is limited on the features offered.  Paid versions remove the ads and add additional features.  AnyMeeting is PC and Mac compatible, but I would imagine Linux gurus can get it to work there as well.  Video conferencing is limited to 6 streams.  AnyMeeting has all of the standard features of a web conferencing app plus some additional ones like polling and a status indicator interestingly labeled “My Mood.”  This app even offers an integrated “ticket sales” module so you can charge admission to your webinars.

Screenshot of AnyMeeting app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic 

AnyMeeting Polls

AnyMeeting is unique among the selections in that it has a polling feature built in to the free version.

Screenshot of AnyMeeting app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic  

Adobe Connect

Adobe Connect is, of course, an Adobe Flash-based conferencing solution when used in Windows and Mac OS but is also available as an app for iOS, Android, and Blackberry Playbook.  Unlike the other offerings, video streams are limited only by available bandwidth.  Adobe Connect even integrates with SIP/H.264 compatible devices to enrich the conference experience.  This app is the only one in this list to offer on-site servers, keeping all conference traffic within your corporate environment.  Pricing information appears to be tightly controlled by Adobe sales staff.  Adobe has a similar free offering, Adobe ConnectNow, a part of Acrobat.com, which is limited to one-on-one communication but is also upgradable to additional attendees.

Screenshot of Adobe Connect app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic 

Adobe Connect Courses

Once you have recorded content in Adobe Connect, you can set up Courses for your company where employees can view the content and answer questions.  As you can see, you can set start and end dates on the course and specify how many times a learner can attempt the question set as well as how many points the questions are worth.  On later screens, you choose the content, enroll the learners, and set up notifications and reminders.

Screenshot of Adobe Connect app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic  

Cisco WebEx

Cisco WebEx, easily the most well-known of the apps on this list, is also a Java-based conferencing solution.  Also available are mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Blackberry.  Like the others, it offers all of the standard conferencing features within the free version and additional features if you upgrade.  The free version is limited to 3 participants; upgrades to 8 or 25 people per meeting are available.  Like Adobe Connect, WebEx also has Enterprise options for up to 500 people but they do not appear to offer on-site services.

Screenshot of Cisco WebEx app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic 

WebEx Whiteboard

Many web conferencing solutions have Whiteboard options and Cisco WebEx is no exception.

Screenshot of Cisco WebEx app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic  

ooVoo

Our final selection, ooVoo, is technically a fat-client system, but it does have a “Web Call” feature which allows you to invite up to 12 participants in a video chat for free.  For the Web Call, users only need Java and an ooVoo account to get started.  Like many others, ooVoo offers iOS and Android apps and the fat-client works on Windows and Mac.  ooVoo also offers Widgets for various social networking sites as well as personal web pages and allows you to save your video chats as YouTube videos for later viewing and sharing.  Using the fat-client, and getting a Premium subscription, the host can share their screen.  The Premium subscription also removes ads.  

Screenshot of ooVoo web app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic 

ooVoo Fat Client

The ooVoo fat client in Windows allows you to create a web call and then send invitations out to e-mail or Facebook recipients.  As you can see, the free version is ad-supported.

Screenshot of ooVoo Windows app by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic