GatherPlace: cost-effective when many presenters share a license

GatherPlace is the only web conferencing program we’ve tested so far that can host conferences on both Windows and Macintosh computers. In case you don’t have access to your own computer and still need to set up a conference quickly, we believe you could temporarily host your GatherPlace meeting on almost any PC or Mac in the world.

The desktop applet generates an e-mail template that you may use to invite participants to the meeting. You can also use your favorite instant messaging system such as Live Messenger or Yahoo Messenger. One peculiar thing with the user interface is that it never suggests that you establish a voice conference. You must explicitly tick a checkbox for the voice conference to be created and the teleconferencing information added to the meeting invitation.

GatherPlace has no integration with other applications, e.g. to invite meeting participants directly from Outlook or Messenger. You can schedule future meetings using the desktop application, but you cannot generate a static meeting URL to place permanently on your website or in your e-mail footer.

When visitors click on the meeting URL, the same GatherPlace applet is downloaded in their computer. Using the same applet makes it possible to share different desktops during the meeting, i.e. first the instructor’s, then a student’s, then back to the instructor etc. If no window is to be shared for a part of the meeting, the sharing functionality can be paused.

GatherPlace allows the host to let any participant control the shared desktop, i.e. move the mouse and type on the keyboard. The contents of the shared window can also be annotated, either by a drawing tool or by typing text. Participants can interact with the presenter using a chat function.

GatherPlace can share the presenter’s whole screen image, or just one or two windows. Be aware that by default, participants still see other windows as red outlines, even though they can’t see their contents.

GatherPlace can scale the presenter’s desktop image so that it fits completely in the window allocated for it, regardless of differences in size. It doesn’t do this by default, though, the participant has to press a button. Another button switches the display to full-screen mode. These two buttons may need some explanation before you begin your presentation.

Another thing you may want to explain to your participants is that due to the “open” Java technology that GatherPlace uses in order to support more than just Windows clients, it can be slow in updating the participant’s screens.

If the host is on a slow network connection, you may also have stability issues with GatherPlace. During our test we tried using a computer in northern Europe to remotely control a host in southern Italy. This repeatedly caused GatherPlace to crash. We tested seven programs in the same session and none of the others had similar problems. 

Free teleconference “included”

According to the sales material, GatherPlace includes teleconferencing. To be honest, this is just a re-branding of the same TeleJunction service that is available for free also under other brand names on the Internet. No problem with that, the TeleJunction service works great, we just think you should know it’s always free and not an added value.

It is not possible to record a GatherPlace conference from within the application. Separate screen-to-video and screen-to-flash converters cost around $40.

One of our business partners uses GatherPlace. When we attend web meetings there, it happens now and then that the presenter just disappears from the teleconference for 10-20 seconds. We’ve been told that the presenter hears a voice advertisement during this period. This may be something that happens only under certain circumstances, or a result of using a “free” teleconferencing service. If you have any experiences of your own we’d really appreciate if you added them as a comment to this article. 

GatherPlace is licensed per installation like its competitors, but allows many presenters to share one GatherPlace license at a very low cost. For example, a GatherPlace license for one presenter and up to 25 participants costs $41 per month. To share that license with an unlimited number of additional presenters costs less than $12 extra, or just $52.50 per month. Of course, a shared license is only valid for one meeting at a time. You must buy one full licenses for each meeting you wish to hold simultaneously.

Summary

For a company with fifteen potential presenters, it is compelling to pay $52.50/month for GatherPlace instead of $585 for GoToMeeting or MeetMeNow. If you can live with the slower screen updates, there is no functionality in the more expensive programs that you cannot live without. Also, they don’t support Linux and Solaris clients, which GatherPlace does.