Netviewer Meet is now available in version 6.0 and has beaten WebEx Meeting Center 8.5 to the second place.
Previously the number three in our ranking, Netviewer Meet has improved its features, especially regarding security. The setup of online meetings is now also easier to handle so that the overall user experience definitely has been enhanced.
Read the detailed evaluation here.
As is clearly visible in our evaluations of online meeting solutions, user-friendliness weighs in heavily. And for good reason too, because if you want to present information online or have a virtual team-meeting you can’t waste time trying to figure out how to get a specific gadget to work. Meeting organizers and participants need easy-to-use software to operate quickly and smoothly.
User-friendliness does not mean – at least for us – hoarding functionalities in one tool. We favor the less-is-more approach to web conferencing. Packing loads of functionalities into one tool may make for a powerful software, but it takes time and effort to learn to operate it properly (e.g. WebEx). Splitting services into multiple tools with only a limited number of features gives the user an easy-to-use solution for his requirements (e.g. Citrix GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToAssist, GoToMyPC, and GoToTraining)
More details on our criteria for evaluation can be found on our homepage.
Cisco have announced on their WebEx site that they will no longer be offering new WebEx MeetMeNow subscriptions. As an alternative, Cisco offer WebEx Meeting Center for web meetings, which we already tested in June 2008. Due to the new situation we will evaluate the services again and publish the updated results on our website.
As a customer with a regular account we were surprised to find out that Cisco has not provided current customers with information other than what can be found on the website.
We received a comment from Robert and we thought we should share our perspective on the topic with you.
Feedback from Robert:
[...]Kind of ridiculous when comparing these web collaboration solutions to leave out the dominant market share leader – WebEx Meeting Center Pro. The MeetMeNow product is just the company’s cheap answer to lowest cost solutions for home office use. Yes the cost is higher for the market-leading WebEx product, but the solution is in another league in most respects too.[...]
Our perspective:
The website focuses on web conferencing solutions targeted to freelancers and small companies. Therefore, we decided to select software solutions that fit best the requirements for these target groups. If we review software solutions in the league of WebEx Meeting Center Pro we should assess Adobe Connect Pro (but not Adobe Connect), Citrix GoToMeeting Corporate (but not Citrix GoToMeeting), Elluminate Live! (but not Elluminate vRoom), iLinc or Interwise in order to be consistent.
If you are interested in hearing about the test results for WebEx Meeting Center, please go to our Enterprise solutions web page.
We received the following feedback from Jamie on May 19, 2008:
Hi. I am starting a business called goginet.com and I need an interactive e-learning tool. I have been using your information to evaluate the different systems, and have found I agree with 95% of your recommendations/observations. Thanks for the great resource. I also like your openess about t he affiliate programs, etc. Very cool to disclose it all. I have found Yugma to be very good. Perhaps it has evolved somewhat from the point you did the tests. Webex has what seems to be the only ecommerce package, but it is so expensive. Thanks again,
Jamie Robe