Open source's hottest 10 apps

by David M Williams

Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Page 6 of 6

#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.

vMukti is designed to run on a Windows XP or Vista system, or a Windows Server environment. However, so long as the target system has the .NET framework 2.0 installed, it should run reliably. This means Linux users aren’t entirely left out: because vMukti has been coded in C# it’s possible it can be made to work using the Mono project which aims to emulate the .NET framework and offers direct binary compatibility.

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!

{moscomment}

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment!