Yugma’s Free Web Meeting App Upgraded, Now Does Linux

December 14, 2008

From OStatic blogs

Many open source users of free online meeting applications reach for Dimdim when they want to present to and collaborate with others on the web, and Dimdim is a great choice. It’s available in a free, open source version and offers a lot of features not found in the freeware conferencing apps, including the ability to invite up to 20 people to a meeting, and free recording of online meetings. Now, one of Dimdim’s biggest freeware competitors, Yugma, has just released a beta version for Linux of its well-liked application.

I discussed version 4.0 of Yugma on the WebWorkerDaily blog yesterday, and I’ve written about Yugma previously here. Like Microsoft LiveMeeting, Yugma users can initiate a conference call as they start a session. Participants call a toll-free telephone number, enter a code supplied for the meeting, and up to 10 callers can connect (many more can in the paid versions). Inititating a meeting in Yugma is very similar to inviting instant messaging buddies to chat from a buddy list.

The new beta version of Yugma for Linux is available for download here. It complements the existing Mac OS X and Windows versions.

With its new upgrade, Yugma has added a Viewer, which allows people to join online conferences even if they haven’t downloaded and installed Yugma. The strength of Yugma has always been how easy it is to quickly get people together in a full-featured web conferencing session, so the Viewer builds on that strength.

I continue to be a big fan of Dimdim, and use it. I’ve also used Yugma extensively, though (the Windows version), and Linux users may want to check the beta out. You can’t invite as many participants to a conference as you can in Dimdim, and you can’t record meetings for free, but Yugma has a very intuitive interface and robust feature set. Meetings are personal in nature, and it may be the application for you.

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