I am looking at different web conferencing services. Could you tell me more about the web conferencing offerings from Microsoft?

Review Summary: Since these Microsoft conferencing solutions are built into Windows, they’re going to provide the best integrated solutions, as long as everyone is on the same Windows platform.

If you want to work with the Windows-integrated web conferencing software then your organization should look into the Microsoft options of Windows Meeting Space, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and NetMeeting. Microsoft Office Live Meeting is a hosted web conferencing solution from Microsoft designed to deliver online meetings, training, and online events. Each user and participant can join through his or her own PC. Take full advantage of Office Live Meeting’s presentation tools, whiteboard for discussions and collaboration, and file and data sharing.

There are many reasons to check out and choose Microsoft Office Live Meeting. With web conferencing, your company employees avoid the high costs of travel thus reducing costs. These web conferences are also more efficient and increase productivity. With web
conferencing, it is easier to conduct training or host large events. Office Live Meeting also has collaborative tools for participants to share ideas, chats, files, desktops, and data. With Microsoft, there is no question of service quality, reliability, and security. The Microsoft Office Live Meeting service is available for a free 30 day trial. The actual pricing for the service depends on your needs of different features and the number of users to support.

To enable collaborate with a small group of people who have Windows Vista running, your organization can check out Microsoft Meeting Space, which is included with Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, and Windows Vista Ultimate. With Windows Meeting Space, you can do a web conferencing and collaboration session with up to 10 other people. The Windows Meeting Space program can also set up an ad hoc network automatically if no network exists and participants are in the same room.

The advantage of using Windows Meeting Space is the collaboration tools for sharing files, screens, applications, and data. It is often difficult, uncomfortable, and inconvenient for many people be huddle over the same computer screen and be able to discuss and brainstorm effectively. It is similarly inconvenient and non sensical to be passing around a flash drive to share data. The security of Window Net Meeting is designed with is it in mind to ensure the safety of your data and ideas.

Microsoft NetMeeting is the web conferencing software packaged with Windows XP and other previous Windows versions. Since Windows XP and other Microsoft operating systems are not longer sold in lieu of Microsoft Vista, the prevalence of NetMeeting will go down more and more. If you do have some legacy machines, you can choose to download NetMeeting for your current machine so that all the users can participate in the web conferencing. Keep in mind the Microsoft NetMeeting is not supported for Windows Vista Home Basic or Premium editions.

How do I choose the best conference calling or web conferencing service?

We understand how you feel. With so many different conference calling, teleconferencing, and web conferencing services and solutions out there, it may seem to be a daunting task to choose the right company for your business or personal use needs. The first step to choosing the best web conferencing and conference calling service is to look at all the different service services out there so that you can gauge what types of services and features are available. With that information, you can better pick which conferencing solutions will fit your business and personal needs.

A good starting point is asking your friends, family, colleagues, and business acquaintances about their experiences with different conferencing calling and web conferencing companies and solutions. With their experiences, they can probably give you recommendations about the best conferencing services that offer easy-to-use services. Combining their experiences and recommendations with your own research and information about web conferencing and teleconferencing services, you can make a better informed decision about the right conferencing solution for your company.

Also, almost all if not all conference calling and web conferencing services and solutions will offer a free trial or special deals for new members. So pick a few of the solutions whose services might fit your needs and try them out for the free trial period. Even if a conferencing company does not offer any free trial, you might be able to get a free trial by talking to their customer service department. By using and trying out the conference calling and web conferencing services you can best gauge which solutions offer you the features you need.

Another good place to look for more information about conferencing services and companies is business rating services such as the Better Business Bureau or the BBB. With business rating services, you can see others’ experiences and check out particular company’s customer services, features, and customer satisfaction. Many of these business rating services offer convenient lookups online.

Looking at business review rating services highlights an important point about conferencing calling and web conferencing services — that customer service and customer satisfaction may be just as important if not more important than the features that a conferencing service offers. Conferencing service and prices are important, but if things go wrong or you need help, you will find a web conferencing and conference calling with good customer service invaluable.