A Review of WebEx.com

Well, turning 180 degrees from our last article, where we crazily loved Reflect.com, I look today at WebEx.com, which sadly I didn't like for a number of reasons.

WebEx
As my company is still very "virtual" with teams made up of programmers, artists, project managers, and other folks scattered around the USA, I have been researching online services that will help us collaborate, "meet," and organise our files/links, etc... I tried WebEx first, mostly due to all the commercials and a lovely packet of paper info I got at a trade show in 1999.

So I set up my "office," which allows people to leave messages and their "business card," and a few other cute features. Please don't leave me anything as I'm not looking there! I can also schedule meetings or set myself up to attend meetings. WebEx has three versions of their service: free, pay-per-use, and corporate solutions (or as their signup page says, "Corportate Solutions"). Free meetings can have up to 4 people for I believe no more than 1 hour, and you seem to get most of their features like file sharing, app sharing, desktop sharing, and video stream.

But before you get too excited, let me explain these. The file sharing uses a special printer driver to essentially print the document you're looking at TO the WebEx interface. This lets other people see this document but not change it. The app sharing lets other people watch you use one of your open apps live, like changing a Word document. They can't change anything, but they can watch from the edge of their seats. The desktop sharing lets someone use your computer as if they were sitting at it, like a remote access program. They say this can be good for tech support, but I'm not sure I'd let anybody, even a friendly and qualified Microsoft techie :), into my whole computer. The video stream shows whoever is set as the conference leader at what looked like 1 or 2 frames per second (unless that was just a poor camera used by the WebEx salesman himself, and you'd think he's got the best equipment he could use to make the sale). And remember: all of these features are only controlled by the conf leader - so only the conf leader can post docs to see, drag you to a webpage, and share an open app. You can CHANGE who is the conf leader, but it's not real collaboration in that when you open the whiteboard, only the conf leader can draw stuff. He/she'd have to change who the leader is for anyone to chime in. This seems ineffecient to me, and at least in NetMeeting, you can share on a more equal level.

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