COmanage Developers List

[Benn Oshrin <>]

Yes, we used it on a recent Jasig conference call.  It's not bad for an 
open source initiative, but it's nowhere near as polished as Webex, etc. 
 For example, desktop sharing is literally just desktop sharing -- no 
application or window specific sharing is available, and it doesn't 
appear possible to bind a telephone line to a web user.

It all runs in the browser (no magic software that needs to be installed 
the first time you run it), which is nice, but also the reason eg 
desktop sharing will lag.

No idea about domestication...

-Benn-

On 8/23/10 3:57 PM, Steven Carmody wrote:
> from the most recent sakai newsletter...
>
> 5. Longsight Announces Partnership with BigBlueButton
>
> The Longsight Group announced a new partnership with Blindside Networks,
> developers of BigBlueButton (http://bigbluebutton.org), the open source
> web conferencing system expressly designed for education. Through this
> partnership, Longsight is providing to their Sakai clients full support
> for BigBlueButton's integrated synchronous collaboration that includes
> live presentations with a whiteboard, desktop sharing, web-cam displays
> and audio using either voice over IP (VoIP) or telephone-based services.
>
> Longsight hosts and supports BigBlueButton with Blindside Networks
> (http://blindsidenetworks.com), providing monitoring and expert support
> services to ensure reliability.
>
> "We're currently hosting BigBlueButton for fourteen colleges in the U.S.
> who are discovering how productive this suite of synchronous tools can
> be in support of teaching and learning," reports Scott Siddall, Partner
> at The Longsight Group. "BigBlueButton has exploded onto the scene
> following the Sakai Conference in mid-June and Blackboard's recent
> announcement of their move into this market. We are thrilled to be
> providing our clients with truly open source web conferencing services,"
> added Siddall. BigBlueButton is fully integrated into Sakai thanks to
> the Sakai community members Adrian Fish and Nuno Fernandes -- another
> example of the power of community source applications.
>
> Blindside Network's CEO, Fred Dixon said, "Working with a global
> community of developers, we developed BigBlueButton to enable
> universities and colleges to offer a high-quality learning experience to
> remote students." Dixon added, "Longsight has a track-record of
> providing first-class support to their customers. We are pleased to
> partner closely with Longsight to ensure their customers can fully
> leverage BigBlueButton."
>
> About Longsight
>
> Longsight is a leading provider of hosting and support services for open
> source software. The company delivers exceptionally reliable hosting
> services and high quality, comprehensive support for Sakai (learning
> management), Drupal (portals and content management) and DSpace
> (institutional repositories). Longsight enjoys a national reputation for
> understanding the business of education based on decades of experience
> in higher education IT management. For more information, please visit
> http://www.longsight.com.
>
> About Blindside Networks
>
> Blindside Networks, located in Ottawa, Canada, is dedicated to helping
> universities, colleges, and private sector educational institutions
> offer a high-quality learning experience to remote students. We created
> and provide commercial support for BigBlueButton, an open source web
> conferencing system for distance education. For more information, please
> visit http://blindsidenetworks.com/.
>
> About BigBlueButton
>
> BigBlueButton is an open source system for synchronous education. It
> provides teachers and students integrated sharing of slides, video,
> audio, chat, whiteboard and desktops. It's built using over fifteen open
> source components, runs on Macintosh, Unix, and PC computers, and is
> backed by a commercial and open source community that cares about good
> design and a streamlined user experience. For more information, please
> visit http://bigbluebutton.org/.
>
> Scott Siddall