The Web Conferencing Blog

A Blog from Tech Republic on LiveMeeting

An interesting "Why Can't MSFT LiveMeeting Stay Alive" BLOG from George Ou at Tech Republic. (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/Ou/?p=215)

Why can't MS LiveMeeting stay alive?
Date: May 11, 2006 @ 5:19 am
Categories: Infrastructure

[Updated 1:35 PM: The cause for the problems with LiveMeeting has been found] Fellow blogger Marc Orchant had a super handy tip the other day to sign up for a Microsoft LiveMeeting seminar this morning given by author Cliff Atkinson. The topic was about moving beyond the same old boring bullet points that conventional wisdom tells us to do. Aside from a horrible meeting experience, I found the seminar so useful that I actually bought the book today since I've been boring my audience to tears with some of my long bullet point presentations. More on Live Meeting

Now you're probably wondering what this business about a horrible meeting experience is. Let me put it this way; Microsoft's Live Meeting has a long way to go! When I tried to sign on to the seminar this morning, it gave me an error that it was full and that I had to check back. Ok, maybe too many people joined and I'll just come back in a little bit and try again like the nice error message says. I come back 20 minutes later and it seems that I'm going to get through this time. LiveMeeting prompts me to download and install software, so I do it and install the LiveMeeting software and I finally get into the meeting half way through. While the initial delay was hard to excuse, I can let it slide since it's a free meeting and I'm a forgiving kind of person. But you would think it's clear sailing from now on right? Wrong! It gets worse, much worse. More on Live Meeting

As I navigate the LiveMeeting interface, it mysteriously vanishes on me except for one browser window that offers me a chance to reconnect. Ok, that was strange; so I click reconnect and get back in. At that point a friend on IM sends me a text note on Skype and a message box pops up and obtains focus (focus is the active Window or item on a graphical desktop interface). As soon as Skype obtains focus and LiveMeeting loses it, poof – my LiveMeeting session is gone and I have to sign back in again. At this point, I'm curious to see what happened so I clicked on the desktop again and poof LiveMeeting is dead and I have to sign on again. At this point, I had missed most of the seminar and I really wanted to finish it so I closed my IM stuff and exited all other applications that might pop up and obtain focus away from LiveMeeting. After all that, I rejoined the meeting and finished it.

So what's the reason for this crazy behavior? I'm not running any strange software and I'm running the latest patched version of IE6 with Windows XP SP2 so there nothing special about my system that should cause these problems. One possibility is that because the seminar was closed off for PDF exports, it is possible that I triggered some sort of security mechanism that LiveMeeting will auto-close thinking I might try and implement some sort of screen capture utility. If that was the case, it would be the dumbest thing I ever heard because this would really tick people off and I could use my high resolution digital camera to take pictures of the seminar and use an audio recorder if I had wanted to. If this isn't the reason and this is some sort of bug, I don't know how something this severe can get past quality assurance.

The truth of the matter is, most people probably won't care and will just stick to the mature web conferencing veteran WebEX. Microsoft bought WebEX competitor Placeware a few years ago which at the time was at a substantial technological disadvantage to WebEX. LiveMeeting seems to have caught up a little as far as its ability to process vector art and effects, but its usability is as bad as or worse than it's ever been.

Live Meeting Crashes
Live Meeting Lay-off

Your Ad Here

Thanks,

David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

WebEx PC Now

How many times have you been at home or are out of office yet you needed quick and easy access to your work computer? If you are like most people, this probably happens on a daily basis. More and more of my clients have been requesting the ability to access work computers from home. Fortunately, WebEx has PCNow.

WebEx PCNow lets you remotely access any computer over the Internet using another computer. For individuals that telecommute, are frequent travelers or are working late, PCNow increases productivity and minimizes lost productivity hours. PCNow works across the firewall, does not require IT involement or IP addresses or complicated VPN/dialup setups. Requirements are a web-browser and a Windows OS.

PCNow Key Highlights:
-Remote desktop control
-Brower-based solution
-128 bit SSL encryption
-Remote screen blanking and keyboard locking
-Phone authentication
-Application level access control
-Remote printing
-File transfer
-Usage activity reports

For PCNow users, the greatest benefit is the ease of use. No knowledge of networking, IP addresses, NAT devices is required. Simply go to your WebEx branded website, click on the desired computer you want to connect to, provide authentication and you are connected.

With the potential of an avian flu pandemic, The Gartner Group is strongly recomending that companies invest in web conferencing technologies and solutions that enable employees to work from home. If companies are truly looking at ways to improve productivity and enhance communications while preparing for a pandemic, PCNow is a must have technology.