Introduction
As part of the research into application sharing for the virtual classroom, different existing tools and solutions have been investigated. One goal is to learn from these solutions where some of them may have been around for a long time. The other objective in researching these tools is not to reinvent what been done and thus may cut my workload doing the programming by more then half by using existing code where it fits.
In using existing code, one should be very critical about the code to use and what underlying designs and technologies to build on as to not repeat the same mistakes that others have been making without knowing. These underlying designs and foundations may have been set ages ago with old knowledge. As a result very few times does one look things from a different perspective and thus new designs rarely emerges.
This summary report would layout findings on the first phase of the investigation.
Methodology
The objectives are mentioned above and so the investigation for this phase was not to be of a very technical nature. The aim was to look at the features as listed below:
- Whether solution is free
- Is it open source?
- Is it Web based or a Graphic User Interface application
- Which programming language where information available
- Which application sharing architecture does is use?
- Does the solution allow remote participant to change on the host application?
- Does the solution allow sharing host control to specific application?
- Can the sharing host presenter change to another presenter?
Most of the information above is collected by visiting the websites for each solution and going through the features page. Other times the solutions needed to be trialed by downloading and installing it or registering for a new account and give it a test. All information is then entered into a spreadsheet.
Findings
The lists of solutions investigated are listed below:
- Vyew : http://www.vyew.com/
- GoToMeeting: http://www.gotomeeting.com/
- Glance: http://www.glance.net
- Persony: http://www.persony.com/
- LiveLook: http://www.showscreen.com/
- eBLVD: http://www.eblvd.com/
- ezMeeting: http://ezmeeting.com/
- Netviewer: http://www.netviewer.net/
- WebBrush: http://www.stanfy.com/dev/webbrush/
- Shareitnow: http://www.shareitnow.com/
- BeamYourScreen: http://www.beamyourscreen.com/
- GoMeetNow: http://www.gomeetnow.com/
- Gatherplace: http://www.gatherplace.net/
- WebEx MeetMeNow: http://meetmenow.webex.com/
- RealVNC: http://www.realvnc.com/
- ISLLight: http://www.isllight.com
- Network Streaming: http://www.networkstreaming.com/
- GoToAssist: http://www.gotoassist.com/
- Spreed: http://www.spreed.com
- ScreenStream: http://www.nchsoftware.com/screen/index.html
- Bosco Screen Sharing: http://www.componentx.com/ScreenShare/
- Skyfex: http://www.skyfexfree.com/
- AOL Instant Messenger Pro: http://aimpro.premiumservices.aol.com/
- WebDialogs Unyte for Skype: http://www.webdialogs.com/unyte/
- DimDim: http://www.dimdim.com
- MSN Messenger
- Flexible JAMM: http://simon.cs.vt.edu/JAMM/
- SharedAppVnc: http://shared-app-vnc.sourceforge.net/
- Xming X Server: http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/
- ShowMyPC : http://showmypc.com/
- LogMeIn: https://secure.logmein.com/US/home.aspx
- MMConf
- Chisimba Realtime Tools
- Yuuguu: http://www.yuuguu.com/home
- TeamViewer: http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx
- ScreenStream: http://www.nchsoftware.com/screen/index.html
The rest of the research would however not be limited to the list above. There may be solution not discovered yet that may be of great use, so the list may grow as the research continues.
In the methodology a list of features are listed that were investigated through these solutions, but the feature of more interest for next phase of investigation are:
- Whether solution is free
- Whether solution is open source
- Whether solution has replicated architecture
- Whether solution allows remote control
- Whether solution allow for sharing of specific applications
A total of 34 solutions were investigated. The number of solution as per preferred features is shown below:
- Free : 16
- Open Source : 6
- Replicated architecture : 2
- Remote Control : 19
- Share Specific Application : 10
- Free and Open Source : 6
- Free, Open Source and Remote Control : 4
- Free, Open Source, Remote Control and Share Specific Application : 2
The solution satisfying all preferred features is Flexible JAMM, but the source code still needs to be requested. Another solution that may also be ideal is MMConf, but this solution could not be found for download anywhere on the internet. There were many research papers found on application sharing that used MMConf as the case study.
Other solutions close to ideal for further investigation are those that are at least Free and Open Source. They are as follows:
- RealVNC – GUI, C, C++
- DimDim – Web Based, Java
- SharedAppVnc – GUI, modified RealVNC, C, C++
- Xming X Server – GUI, X Windows Server, C, C++
- Chisimba Realtime Tools – Web Based, Java
Conclusion
In the next phase, the chosen solutions would be investigated on protocols and bandwidth behavior.
The desired solution however is to have a Replicated Architecture and all expect one of the solutions to be investigated satisfies this feature. There is the idea to investigate whether the other solutions can be altered in the level at which they intercept at host application to convert their architecture.
