Free Video Chat and Video Conferencing Applications

Now that videoconferencing applications are no longer the province of large well financed companies since technology has improved forcing prices to drop, web application advances have now made this once non affordable technology accessible to small businesses. Here are a couple of free but good videoconferencing application which are easy to use and will enable you to add this option to your online communication capabilities.

The Skype Edition of Yugma is a great add-on for those of you who use Skype. Adding the Yugma video conferencing tool will boost your businesses videoconferencing productivity at no cost to you. There is a Yugma Skype Extra add-on which offers more options but it is not free. The basic service which comes with the free Yugma Skype Edition is good for up to ten users but its video capability is limited to only two person conferencing.

Within the meeting invitation you send out via email you include a user ID for the invitee to enter to join the conference at a designated time. Control of the videoconferencing meeting can be passed between participants and you have the option to set up an always available project collaboration and conferencing center where participants can come and go as they please. Because of the limited two-way video conferencing capacity, the service switches to audio-only mode automatically when more than two people have joined the conference. Desktop sharing, document sharing, and session recording are a few of the applications other features.

OoVoo is another free video conferencing programs which makes multiuser videoconferencing as easy to set up and operate as instant messaging. OoVoo is a lot more robust than Yugma's Skype Edition. It supports six-way videoconferencing with good picture quality even over a DSL connection. You maintain the ability to continue surfing the Internet and uploading files even while conferencing. OoVoo works pretty much the same way as some popular instant messaging programs, once installed you will see a contact list window informing you who is available online.

Participants in your OoVoo video conference have the option to communicate privately, or with the entire conferencing group via text chat, they can record a 1 minute video message to send to others, and transfer files to contacts. OoVoo does not have scheduling, white boarding, presentation, or desktop sharing capabilities, but if used properly, the available texting and file transfer tools should fulfill your needs for sharing additional files and information necessary to make your video conferencing meeting a success.

Due to the constant improvements in today's web technology applications and the increased speed of broadband connections, videoconferencing is no longer exclusively for big companies. Now it is possible for you to video conference just like the big boys.

Resource: Free Video Chat and Video Conferencing - PC World - February, 2009

Tags: video conferencing, oovoo, yugma, free software, free video conferencing software