Microsoft Office Live Meeting

Microsoft Office Live Meeting is a commercial subscription-based web conferencing service operated by Microsoft. Live Meeting includes software that is installed on client PCs, and uses a central server for all clients to connect to. Currently, those servers are under the control of Microsoft, however, Microsoft also produces Microsoft Lync Server which is an enterprise conferencing server product.

Overview

Microsoft Office Live Meeting is a separate piece of software which is installed on a user's PC (Windows Based Meeting Console). The software is available for free download from the Microsoft website. There is also a Java based console which has antecedent release functionality. This also operates in Mac and Solaris environments. The desktop client for Live Meeting is not compatible on the Mac in either Firefox or Safari 3.x ^[1], however non-Windows users can connect to a web-based Live Meeting, if the meeting organizer publishes an HTTP URL to access the meeting. According to Microsoft technical support on September 26, 2008, there is no release date planned for Safari 3.x compatibility.

Live Meeting is convergence software (i.e., allows integration with an audio conference). Using the web you are able to control PSTN lines (mute all parties except your own, eject parties, etc.). User accounts are grouped together in Conference Centers (a unique URL) which starts with: www.livemeeting.com/cc/. . . or www.placeware.com/cc/. . . Users pay nothing to join a Live Meeting session. Charging for Live Meeting is done on an account basis. Supply of accounts is mostly done by resellers (Global Telecoms companies) who supply per minute or monthly standing charges.

Live Meeting 2007

With Live Meeting 2007 Microsoft offers both a hosted model for Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 as well as a CPE (customer premise equipment) solution, namely Office Communications Server 2007. In addition to Microsoft directly hosting Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007, hosting partners will also offer Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 as a fee-based service. Whether attendees use the Live Meeting service or the Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS 2007) to power their web conference, they will use the same client to deliver a seamless meeting experience.

New features are

• Rich media presentations (incl. Windows Media and Flash)
• Live webcam video
• "Panoramic video" with Microsoft RoundTable
• Multi-party two-way VoIP audio
• PSTN and VoIP audio integration
• Active speaker indicator
• Public events page
• Advanced testing and grading
• High fidelity recordings
• Personal recordings
• Virtual Breakout Rooms
• "Handout" distribution (File Transfer)

Live Meeting Web Access (MWA) was redesigned in this release to provide a user experience that is nearly identical to the new Windows-based Live Meeting client. One huge benefit is that Live Meeting Web Access is a Java applet and therefore is available on non-Windows operating systems such as Linux, Solaris, and MacOS.

The Live Meeting product is also intended to operate with the Polycom CX5000 (formerly known as the Microsoft Roundtable) which is a 360 degree video camera optimized to work with Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007. One new feature included in this version allows the Microsoft Office Live Meeting client to automatically switch the larger video window to the actively speaking participant. This auto-switch feature isn't specific to the Polycom CX5000 product - it will work with any USB-based camera. The main advantage of the CX5000 is its 360 degree camera view, which is suitable for conference rooms with several participants. With specially designed microphones, the CX5000 is able to determine the location of the active speaker and then tell Microsoft Office Live Meeting which camera angle to focus on.

History

Live Meeting was originally a separate company called PlaceWare. Microsoft acquired PlaceWare to improve upon NetMeeting, its own webconferencing technology. Microsoft subsequently dropped development of NetMeeting.

See also

• Comparison of office suites
• Web conferencing
• Comparison of web conferencing software
• Collaborative software

References

1. ^ http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/livemeeting/HA102415191033.aspx

External links

• The Live Meeting Blog
• Live Meeting Website
• PlaceWare: Structuring a Xerox Technology Spin-off, a company case study