#6 – vMukti – Collaborative Conferencing

Forget expensive collaborative systems like Microsoft’s LiveMeeting. With the strangely-named - but very hot - vMukti Windows’ users can set up their own multi-party conferencing for web and mobile users alike.

Where vMukti offers great value is in allowing two or more Internet-connected people to work together through the one web site. Panels display in the browser window where users can share their webcams and audio, type into an IM-style chat window, draw on a communal white board, or conduct polls. In this regard it is a superb open source offering, with real opportunity to slash communication costs and facilitate teamwork. Well-chosen screenshots at http://sourceforge.net/project/screenshots.php?group_id=162339 show off its best side.

The ultimate objective of vMukti is to bring together a vast array of diverse Internet-based communication methods, including Skype, Yahoo! and MSN Messengers, and even Asterix-based VoIP phone systems! The project team argue they've kept bandwidth usage to a bare minimum making the app not only extremely functional but also highly lightweight. 

The project is yet to produce a version 1.0 release (the current is 0.6.0.4) but with 11 developers and recent coverage by Enterprise Week (http://www.enterpriseweekmag.com/issues/issue125.pdf, page 35) it’s certain to make big headway and is well worth checking out by anyone who can see the worth of co-operative facilities on a Windows-based network.

Come back tomorrow for part 2 as we walk through the top five active open source projects on SourceForge, culminating in #1!

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