[Wikimedia-l] How lovely live communication works worldwide

[Manuel Schneider]

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
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