Am 03.12.2013 23:33, schrieb Tilman Bayer:
Note that this solution is still based on proprietary software, in that it requires users to install a Flash plugin.
well, BigBlueButton is completely open source, including the flash applets used.
While I am not in favour of Flash there is currently no other way to do this if you want to provide a solution when nobody should need to install a special software, register an account somewhere. Note that there are also free flash implementation that are reported to work with BigBlueButton.
The guys are currently working on a HTML 5 client. I am really looking forward to see that in action. But I guess it will take another while until it will be usable.
It would be interesting to learn about the experiences of Wikimedia France, who has been replacing Skype with the entirely free Mumble, according to https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FLOSS-Exchange .
There is always a trade-off to make - Flash vs. client special installation needed, FOSS vs. proprietary solution. If there would be a solution which could avoid those trade-offs, we would have used it.
We use BBB regularly for our staff and board meetings, weekly meetings with 4 - 5 participants. Works great. The biggest issues are people not having connected their mic or adjusted their mixer properly or not using a headset at all, causing background noises and echos. But no solution, neither Skype nor Mumble, can fix that.
/Manuel