History of web conferencing: multifunction conferencing comes of age

Although video conferencing and web conferencing are sometimes confused, the
The reality is that web conferencing is a completely different animal, with much more
available options and a much greater range of functionality than video
conferences Web conferences offer not only the opportunity to chat and
communicate via a webcam so you can see each person in your conference
link, but to exchange documents, share applications, access shared desktops, use
PowerPoint, whiteboards and other presentation features and even polls
attendees
It all started with PLATO…
Web conferencing is “the total package.” Interestingly, the conceptual design
of web conferencing began long before the World Wide Web or the Internet existed
structure in place. In the 1960s, the University of Illinois developed a system
known as PLATO for its Computer-Based Education Research Laboratory (CERL). It’s
it was a small, self-contained system supporting a single class of terminals
connected to a central computer. In 1972, PLATO moved to a new system of
mainframes that eventually supported over a thousand users at a time.
In 1973, Talkomatic was developed by Doug Brown. This was essentially the
first “instant messaging” program ever designed, with multiple windows
visualization of written notes in real time for several users simultaneously. In 1974,
Kim Mast developed Personal Notes, a new feature for PLATO that allowed
email for users.
In 1975, Control Data Corporation established its own PLATO system in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, the first commercial use of the multifunction conference system.
Within ten years, PLATO was being used at more than a hundred sites around the world.
world, some with dedicated lines for full-time use.
By the late 1980s, however, microcomputers were becoming more reasonably
price and the day of the week for mainframe-based systems was over. Eventually the
The original Control Data systems were shut down because PLATO was no longer
economic. Control Data now has some systems operating under the name
CYBIS.
PLATO descendants
In the late 1970s Ray Ozzie and Tim Halvorsen worked at CERL. years later
took some of PLATO’s features and greatly expanded its
capabilities by designing one of the most powerful web conferencing tools today
— Lotus Notes, released in 1989.
Lotus Notes was the first commercially released product that really took off
to offer user-created databases, document sharing, and remote location
communication under one umbrella. Created a “relationship-based” environment
that took the corporate world by storm.
Other PLATO descendants included DEC Notes, originally known as VAX,
written by Len Kawell. It is still used today on DEC’s EASYnet and on Starlink,
a universal web conferencing community. NetNotes is a client-server system
designed to enhance the original DEC Notes, with WebNotes as a plug-in for
Access to the World Wide Web.
True WEB conferencing
The distinction between true web conferencing and systems conferencing is
difficult, however, to define. When the Web first became a competitor as a
means of collaborative conferences with exchange of documents, etc., many companies
took conference packages originally designed for intranet systems and
he redesigned them. The results were not always perfect. It wasn’t until
In the mid-1990s, reliable, true web conferencing software was available.

PLATO and other mainframe-based conferencing systems were based on a
centralized structure, with all elements feeding into a central computer. East
structure saw the development of various types of conferencing software that
including Backtalk, Caucus, COW, Motet, Web Crossing, Podium, TALKaway and YAPP.

PlaceWare, possibly one of the most influential web conferencing systems
developed, had interesting origins in the 1990s at Xerox Palo Alto Research
Center, where it started as a multi-user game called LambdaMOO. Placeware was one
of the first companies to provide full web conferencing after the
launch of PlaceWare Auditorium in 1997. In April 2003, Microsoft purchased
PlaceWare, adding it to its newly created Real-Time Collaborative Business Unit.

P2P changes the approach to web conferencing
Another popular form of software was Groupware, essentially defined by Lotus
Ratings. The difference between the centralized structure of PLATO-based systems
and Lotus is in the extra features — Lotus provided a lot of other
options like scheduling and document sharing. Groupware software is more complex
that centralized software and focus on workflow; that is, make sure
documents, graphics and templates are where they belong. popular collaborative software
Products developed in the 1990s included InTandem, Livelink, Lotus Domino,
Oracle InterOffice, TEAMate and WebShare.
As the price of home computers fell, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing
became increasingly common on the World Wide Web, though primarily in
a user-to-user basis. That changed when members of Napster, then illegal,
informally organized group of college kids and other music lovers, began
sharing millions of music files between them. Started a revolution in
Internet usage changing the way web conferencing was eventually
perceived. P2P began to be seen as the way to host web conferences, rather than
through a single server. .
Groove took this peer-to-peer concept and applied it to web conferencing. Tea
Groove technology, originally released in 2000, has been upgraded to true performance
powered with Groove 2.1 in 2002 and it was impressive. The advantages of peer to peer
were immediately obvious: once you loaded the software and configured it,
never had to pay a subscription or user fee for an external server to store any
files, you’ll never lose all your files in one central location, and it’s set up
and good for life (or until the next update, at least).
Another company that recognized the need for quality web conferencing
software during these years was WiredRed Software, founded in 1998. In 2003,
launched e/pop, a real-time web conferencing suite with
features for all aspects of the industry: it was the first installable web
conferencing software without significant installation time.
NextPage also offers P2P web conferencing and document sharing capabilities.
developed from the Napster movement. In fact, they use the example of Napster
sharing of files and downloads to illustrate to companies the advantages of using a
peer to peer network through a centralized server.
What about UseNet?
In the 1980s, Usenet software was developed with specific protocols for
format and transmit messages. It also allowed passing messages from one
news server to another, replicating around the world instead of being stored in
any location. It has become the standard for Internet news readers,
with Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, both with built-in newsreaders
for UseNet. .
For some, web conferencing can be achieved simply by taking advantage of
UseNet. Download free software to set up a news server, create some locales
newsgroups on it, and have your users access your server with their web browsers
to create your conference site.
Most companies, of course, prefer to have a more professional package than
that, and ease of use and security are concerns best addressed with
companies that have specifically developed business or corporate web conferencing
solutions A good web conferencing package today contains voice over IP (VoIP),
co-browsing and app sharing at a minimum, with plugins and others
features if needed, including polls, event management, PowerPoint
live presentation, playback, recording and annotation and markup.
Easynet, founded in 1994, is a Europe-based broadband networking company
primarily providing European companies with web conferencing capabilities. East
infrastructure-based provider provides unbundled loop access to businesses in
some countries as part of a conference “leased line” program.
VoIP is making noise
The latest frontier in web conferencing is the practicality of using IP-based systems.
voice communications on a regular basis with web conferences. while web
conferences is considered convenient for the exchange of documents, text messages and
whiteboards and many other functions, many people still think that VoIP technology
has poor quality overall, especially with so many people still using dial-up
connections.
Actually, there are several competitors in the market that have produced
excellent quality VoIP offers in their web conferencing packages, including
Voxwire, Orbitalk, RoomTalk, and VoiceCafe.
The future of web conferencing
One of the last hurdles for web conferencing has been the
incompatibility between Mac and PC. With the strong preference for Macs by
those in heavy graphic industries such as architecture, advertising and
publication, it has always been difficult to share documents and establish
Web conferencing if clients are PC based. .
WaveThree’s Session was released in 2003 to address this problem and seems
actually overcome this seemingly insurmountable problem, one of the
first truly effective systems for Mac/PC collaboration over the Internet. Wearing
a bandwidth of 128 KBPS or higher, Session provides video conferencing, desktop
share, share documents, whiteboards and live annotations on photos and/or
documents. There will certainly be more such web conferencing platforms on the market.
horizon.
As web conferencing becomes more and more common, new developments
arise inevitably, including, perhaps, dedicated lines that are constantly open,
Improved secure peer-to-peer access and more web conferencing options for Mac/PC.
With so many players on the field, there is likely to be a variety of
divergent developments in the coming years.
This article on “The History of Web Conferencing” reprinted with
permission.

Copyright © 2004-2005 Evaluateek Publishing.