VPN software search?

November 4, 2005 8:23 AM

Help me skip this whole "research" thing: I'm looking for an application that will allow videoconferencing and screensharing over a long distance that isn't bloated. More details inside.

I'm pretty sure I need a VNC. So far I've looked at MS LiveMeeting, Web EX, TightVNC, Privaria and RealVNC. None of these do exactly what I need, and all of them have a lot of extra features going on.
The concept is a shared web browser (screen share) but with a video conference (with audio) as well. And as little other interface as possible. It has to be able to be tunneled through a VPN. Imagine a relationship similar to a salesperson and customer only sharing a web interface and able to see each other. The user end will be a kiosk so we have full control of its set up. I'm really trying to get around having to develop our own software for this and trying to figure out what exists out there already. I know it sounds a bit like a half baked idea, but it would be nice if you could ignore that for the time being.
All the software I've tried so far is more for setting up and presenting in long distance meetings (this would be more of a constant connection between an agent and a client). I'm going more toward customer service than presentation.
So I'm looking for an application that fulfills these requirements. Any suggestions you have would be great. I've been all over this question already. Thanks.

posted by mike_bling to computers & internet (5 comments total)

Hmmm... Seems to me you should break the screensharing and conferencing up into two different programs. VNC programs aren't meant for this type of conferencing.

What about using ichat or another video conferencing program with tightvnc running next to it?
posted by meta87 at 8:59 AM on November 4, 2005

That's a great idea, I think that's what it's going to end up being.
posted by mike_bling at 9:10 AM on November 4, 2005

The University of North Carolina wrote an application called FaceTop (more, more[pdf], more) which looks like just the thing, but I can't figure out how to obtain a copy. I'll keep digging...
posted by Popular Ethics at 9:18 AM on November 4, 2005

From the wired article:
"The system is implemented in Mac OS X and is made possible largely by the system's Quartz rendering engine, which can make any part of the interface transparent. Thanks to Quartz, a quick prototype was whipped up in about 45 minutes, Smith said. A PC version will likely be delayed until the release of Longhorn, the next major version of Windows, due in 2006, which will include a similar graphics subsystem."

"Stotts said the university holds patents on the technology and will likely license it to software publishers. He said a couple of firms have already expressed interest in incorporating it into their products, but declined to say who."
posted by Popular Ethics at 9:37 AM on November 4, 2005

Macromedia offers an app called Breezelive (they may have changed the name to BreezeMeeting) which is entirely Flash based and does not require a participant download (assuming about 98% penetration of Flash in the marketplace). It has a videoconferencing feature, but I'm not sure about audio because with their standard web conferencing the telephony is provided through a third party. I'm pretty sure the videoconferencing has it's own audio though. It's worth checking out...my company is currently evaluating it as a replacement for WebEx. One nice feature that WebEx does not have is Breeze allows you to record and store an entire conference for future download.
posted by spicynuts at 11:57 AM on November 4, 2005