FREE Web Conferencing with dimdim.com

July 24, 2008 20:05 by Ryan Garaygay

Just like to share about dimdim.com. Nopz, this is not a social networking site like friendster or myspace, nor a paid blogging site, ad site or a multilevel marketing site where i'd convince you to sign for me to get a referral fee :)

Dimdim.com is a web conferencing/meeting service/platform similar to the popular WebEx or GotoMeeting. The only catch is it's for FREE. Yes you read it right. For Free.

Just go to www.dimdim.com. Sign up, start a meeting, allow some plugin/extension to be installed in your browser (and allow it to access some resources if you have a personal firewall - which I also recommend in my case ZoneAlarm) then you're good to go.

When I had to use it, our needs were simple : to share my desktop and it was straightforward.

I believe that it also has support for voice (access to your microphone) and video (on top of the online screen sharing - and thus access to a webcam).

Furthermore, it has a "shared whiteboard" feature where you have some sort of a painter application on screen then you can either do the writing/painting or unlock it and let the other attendees write/paint to. How cool is that.

Once sharing, you will have a link at the upper right for "Meeting Info". clicking on it will popup a dialog with the meeting url. just share it.

The only concern you might have is that:

1) if you are the starter of the meeting and thus the presenter, you can't view how your desktop appears. The work-around for this is to join the meeting from another browser instance (just tried and works).

2) if sharing a desktop, the whole desktop is shared and no option to share only a region, a window or hiding the taskbar. Now I cant remember very well if WebEx or GTM has this feature but if you're particular about this one then you might not want it and find another solution supporting it.

3) I believe you can't change presenter or allow another attendee to control the mouse/keyboard

4) I'm not sure but I didn't notice an authentication support like requiring attendees to enter password

5) Some limitations: like Maximum participants is 20, maximum meeting length of 2 hrs 45 mins, maximum attendee mics to 3.

I also didn't dig much deeper on the level of access and security risk the application poses but I don't have critical, confidential files on this machine and I can restore it from my Acronis Secure Zone Restore anytime. Plus the added confidence on Firefox 3, IE and ZoneAlarm (i opt to not "always" whatever prompts that needs needs access to restricted resource).

Bottomline; for most of my requirements and I have nothing to hide on my desktop :) this is more than just good enough for me. Need not post screen shots, just go ahead and try it, I'm sure you'd find your way around.

Hope you'd find it useful too.

** Thanks to Ozer UNAT for introducing this cool stuff to me :)


Comments

November 12. 2008 15:16

steve chazin

Thanks for the post about Dimdim.  In our upcoming 4.0 version (less than 2 weeks away!) you'll be able to pass control to multiple presenters, record the session, grab an embed code for the meeting replay, share Mac desktops and a lot more.  We're working on a clever way to share only a portion of your desktop or a single application.  Thanks again!

steve chazin

November 12. 2008 16:11

Ryan Garaygay

Cool Smile Looking forward to more features and thanks for coming up with such a helpful app

Ryan Garaygay

November 12. 2008 18:50

Andrew Donnelly

Hi Ryan,

I'd like to inform you about Mikogo – the free online meeting tool http://www.mikogo.com Have you tried this before?
Mikogo is a free desktop sharing tool perfect for online meetings and online collaboration, where you can share any screen content in real time and true color quality.
With Mikogo you have an “application selection” feature so you can choose which applications and open windows you wish to transmit to your participants and which ones you wish to keep hidden for privacy reasons. Also with the application selection backmonitor you get a view of how and what your meeting participants can see on your screen.
With the “switch presenter” feature you can grant presenting rights to a participant and let them take charge of the meeting and share their screen content.
The “remote control” feature enables remote keyboard and mouse control of a participant's screen. This is perfect when group members are working together on a document, and different participants can take control and add their 2 cents worth to the document. Also great for remote tech support.
In terms of passwords, users can select to add a password (in addition to the unique 9-digit ID) that participants need to join. This allows even greater security.
With the Skype Extra you can make calls and share your screen for free (https://extras.skype.com/1672)  
Also there are no time limits – you can host free online meetings for as long and as often as you want. No catches – 100% free.
Mikogo uses 256bit AES encryption to ensure security. No configurations or network/firewall changes required. And no registrations or installations for participants.

Check out the website and take Mikogo for a test drive. You're welcome to contact me and let me know what you think – always great to get feedback from our users.

FYI, we are working on greater features for Mikogo which will enhance its use even further. If you are interested, I would be happy to keep you posted on this.

If you have any questions about Mikogo, feel free to contact me

Cheers,

Andrew
The Mikogo Team

Andrew Donnelly

November 12. 2008 18:55

Ryan Garaygay

Sounds interesting. Will give it a try. Thanks for the tip.

Ryan Garaygay

November 12. 2008 22:39

Chris G. Sellers

Too bad your Mikugo is only Windows.  Not good for my market in Academia.  Thanks though, looks cool.

Chris G. Sellers

November 15. 2008 00:47

Andrew Donnelly

Hi Chris,
We are looking into several new features for Mikogo, and one of those includes Mac compatibility. A few of our users have mentioned this on our Forum (which is good feedback), so thanks for your comment.

Regards,
Andrew

Hi Ryan,
Great to hear that you are interested in Mikogo. Feel free to let me know what you think about the app after you've taken it for a test drive. You're also welcome to contact me if you have any questions.
Also, i'll keep you posted on the Mikogo development especially in regards to the new Mikogo release.

All the best,
Andrew

Andrew Donnelly

December 1. 2008 00:08

Heather

Ryan,

I currently work for a company called Cool Conference Live, it's a completely free web conferencing service. Check us out Smile

Here are a few features to get you started:

*Our greatest feature we offer here at Cool Conference Live is that our web conferencing service is 100% free, no strings attached.

*The best of social networking:  participants can upload photos, social profiles, or business URL’s.

*Upload power points or create your own presentation using our Presentation Wizard.

*Zoom in/zoom out to highlight areas of your power point.

*Capability to hold an unlimited participants, unlimited presentations, and unlimited duration of meetings.

*The digital notes feature that allows you to take notes during the conference and submit them either to yourself or all of the participants in the conference.


Look forward to hearing from you!

Heather

April 14. 2009 16:11

Busby SEO Test Pinay

Thank you for sharing what is Dimdim.com.

Busby SEO Test Pinay

April 30. 2009 23:38

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