Comments on: Screen sharing apps?

Question: Screen sharing apps?

xammerboy — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:39:47 -0800

Does anyone know of good, free, and easy to use screen sharing applications? We use MeetingPlace where I work, but it doesn't work often. Is there a simple screen sharing application I can use that works for multiple people? Ideally, this would work across company VPNs, be free, and be easy to install and use.

About 90% of my job depends on me being able to work with others in real time on a shared screen. Help me MeFi, you are my only hope! :-)

By: RustyBrooks

RustyBrooks — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:42:39 -0800

VNC is probably your best bet I guess (VNC is a class of programs that inter-operate with each other for the most part. The one I use is RealVNC. It's free, it works well, it probably does most of what you want)

By: tybeet

tybeet — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:49:21 -0800

I'd second VNC, but I believe xammer is looking for something more collaborative. If you were to try running VNC with multiple users, it would just turn into a blind competition for who gets to control the mouse.

GoogleDocs actually has pretty awesome collaborative elements, though it's not realtime.

I've not had experience with this one, but Microsoft's own Tahiti sounds like it might suit your needs.

By: Tomorrowful

Tomorrowful — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:51:22 -0800

If you're looking for a service, we've used Yugma and GoToMeeting at work a lot. Neither is free, unfortunately, but both work great - very easy to use, and work fine across VPNs.

Is there a reason why something that 90% of your job requires doesn't have room for $200/yr for yugma?

By: RustyBrooks

RustyBrooks — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:08:33 -0800

I think I used GoToMeeting once, it seemed OK.

VNC has options to make some people who attach just be able to view and some to interact. If you really want two seperate mouses doing something at once, it doesn't do that though.

By: twiggy

twiggy — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:18:38 -0800

GoToMeeting and WebEx are both pretty decent. Not free, though.

By: harmfulray

harmfulray — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:20:19 -0800

I use GNU Screen to share terminal sessions with far-away people in my group on those occasions when a shared Emacs/shell session is all we need. There's a nice introduction here, and information on shared sessions here.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:22:27 -0800

I don't think there are any solutions that allow two people to act independently on the same screen.

xammerboy, can you give some more requirements? Do you just need screen sharing, or do you need things like integrated video/voice/text chat?

If it truly is just screen sharing, then yeah, go VNC, as long as you know all the participants. Getting strangers to use VNC, particularly if you need to tunnel, can be a hassle.

By: zippy

zippy — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:53:59 -0800

Seconding Yugma - the screen-sharing web service with the terrible name.

By: xammerboy

xammerboy — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:40:58 -0800

Thanks all, these are great suggestions! I really only need to be able to share my screen with multiple people. I don't need everyone to interact on the same document.

By: contraption

contraption — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:04:35 -0800

UltraVNC SC will allow a customer or colleague to share their screen with you by simply downloading and running a customized executable that you build by editing a simple config file. It's great if you ever have to work with people who would find the task of installing and configuring a full-blown VNC server challenging.

By: D Wiz

D Wiz — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:29:44 -0800

Have you tried Adobe Brio Beta. It is a beta product so I don't know how robust it is but I have played around with it and it seems nice. (Better than meetingplace.) And it is free. Worth a look at least.

If you could post back here once you find a workable solution, I would appreciate it. I am interested in hearing what works out and why.

By: yoyoceramic

yoyoceramic — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:51:51 -0800

I have used VNC, WebEx meet me know, and GoTo Meeting.

TEAMVIEWER is the easiest, freesest, and most versatile screen sharing software I have used.

http://www.teamviewer.com

By: xammerboy

xammerboy — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:53:17 -0800

Thank you all! I'll experiment with these and post back as to which works best for me!