RSSMicrosoft to Phase Out NetMeeting
By David Worthington | Published November 27, 2003, 3:02 AM
After six years of service, Microsoft is officially retiring its NetMeeting conferencing software. Instead, the company's Office Live Meeting software, based upon PlaceWare, will fill the void left by the gradual phase out of NetMeeting.
Currently, both MSN and Windows Messenger utilize NetMeeting technology to power application and whiteboard sharing. Development is indefinitely frozen, however, and Microsoft's IM clients will be migrated to drive Live Meeting services.
A Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews, "NetMeeting is still supported and available with current editions of Windows although there will not be any new versions of NetMeeting."
"Microsoft believes that NetMeeting provides customer value in certain scenarios, and that Live Meeting will be a compelling complementary service in many situations," the spokesperson said. "Moving forward, it is expected that all future innovations will come within the LCS, Live Meeting and Windows Messenger technologies."
Despite the advent of richer whiteboard clients and the near ubiquity of instant messaging, NetMeeting remains an integral part of many organizations' IT infrastructures. According to the product's Web site, customers ranging from Boeing, to Ford, to the United States Navy make use of NetMeeting for real time communications and collaborative tasks.
A Microsoft case study reads, "The United States Navy solved worldwide equipment maintenance and repair issues by creating a TeleMaintenance service using Microsoft NetMeeting, which provides real-time multimedia communications to enable the Shore Support Infrastructure to resolve more repairs without having to send for a 'tech assist.'"
Throughout its product lifespan, NetMeeting has shipped as free component of Windows, but Live Meeting will not carry on the torch. Microsoft is now offering a free 30-day trial of Live Meeting, but the software is otherwise priced per seat.
"Microsoft's IM clients will be migrated to drive Live Meeting services."
and then....
"NetMeeting has shipped as free component of Windows, but Live Meeting will not carry on the torch"
hows that gonna work then?
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|"NetMeeting is still supported and available with current editions of Windows although there will not be any new versions of NetMeeting."
When was the last time there ever was a new version!?
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|New version came out with XP. 3.01, which is now available on their web site.
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|Ha! What do you know... Never noticed. :) However, I see that Office Live isn't going to be free like NetMeeting... :(
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|You mean Netmeeting Hassn't been put to pasture yet? Never did get that thing working correctly. No long goodbyes here but good riddance
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|I've been able to get it to work but I've had conflict problems with it. Having to fuss with IP addresses and such probably turned most people away (especially with internet IP pools). Windows Messenger is a lot easier to work with.
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|MS Netmeeting was sweet for its time. Team Speak and various other Apps for Audio Communications have to come a long way since the old Netmeeting days. Netmeeting was great for its collaborative tasks and they seem to have carried these (Whiteboard & Remote Assist) forward into the new ones. The file transfer was just plain unstable on most OS's.
By the way anyone remember this old exert. I keep it for a laugh every time I got a new router for the triggers...grin
"Microsoft Netmeeting is a router-unfriendly application simply because of that fact that it uses dynamic ports - meaning that every time the application is opened, it is using different ports to operate. Hence, this application does not work well behind any NAT firewall. Some customers have been able to get this application to work by opening up all the ports for certain triggers.
This is definitely not recommended by us, but we can provide you with the information these customers have given us. Beyond this, there is nothing else that can be done. If this info does not solve your problem, please contact Microsoft.
Triggers = 389 , 522 , 1503 , 1024 , 1720 , 1731
Incoming ports (the same for all triggers) = 1-64535
All the ports are TCP. You can also try putting your machine in the DMZ (through Misc. Items) and make sure that you have upgraded the firmware on the router. "
That always made me laugh.... ROFL
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|The Remote Desktop feature in Netmeeting used to be great before they put Terminal Services in WinXP Pro.
Francis
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