On our first tier of Web conferencing solution and software we will be looking at Dimdim. Dimdim is a web-based platform for real-time, rich-media collaboration and meetings. Dimdim is originally made available as an enterprise edition and as a Virtual Machine appliance. Good news is an open source edition which is available under the GNU General Public License (GPL), which allows users to install and host Dimdim in their own networks. Bad news is latest open source edition which is hosted at sourcefourge.com lacks installation instructions, which is a blow to many users. They do offer a free hosted version called Dimdim free, which is available to be used freely with up to 20 people.
Dimdim is available in 4 unique editions excluding the open source and free hosted version, which gives the user wide array of choices that not only vary in prices but as well features and number of users.
Dimdim Enterprise: As the name suggest, if you are need of large and frequent meetings Dimdim enterprise should be your pick. Unlike most of the popular enterprise class web conferencing solutions, Dimdim Enterprise is available comes in two flavor – hosted and as well as onsite versions. Free upgrade, lifetime technical support, professional integration services and $100 worth pre-purchase evaluation makes it a very juicy offer. The do say Dimdim Enterprise “1/3 the cost of other guys”, so I guess it worth checking out.
Dimdim Webinar : This is completely browser-based; User only needs a simple URL to join in addition to that these guys cooked up something call Webinar Widget which allow host to accept registrations on his/her own web site or facebook . User can host webinars with up to 1000 attendees or maximum 100 person meetings, without any need to download anything. By that means as you can guess it’s a hosted solution. This tier cost $75/month which is $215 lesser than GatherPlace which offer similar kind of package. A full featured free 30-day trial is available, which will just convert to 20-attendee free version of Dimdim after the trial period.
Dimdim Pro: This edition is all about more meeting, more space and lesser cost. User can customize their meeting room with company branding, logos, and start and ending pages to make the meeting as part of corporate identity. Dimdim Pro is 100% hosted edition thus user need not to worry about anything other than their meeting itself. Open APIs allow further customization to Dimdim pro. It supports up to 100 attendees, Meeting Reporting, yearly/monthly billing option, secure screencasting, Advanced Collaboration Tools, unlimited number of meetings, unlimited account sharing etc. All these cost $19/month or $228/Year which is surprisingly almost 1/5 cost of Cisco’s WebEx.
Dimdim Virtual Classroom: This edition is exclusively for education industry people. This cool Dimdim Virtual Classroom Pack empowers ten teachers to host up to fifty students at a time in their own customizable web-based classroom. Dimdim virtual Classroom can facilitate up to 10 teachers their own private room; maximum 50 students can join each room, Enterprise-class online/chat support. Need not to mention each virtual Classroom can be customized for individual faculty members, department or school. This edition cost $2199/year; there is no monthly pricing plan for this edition. Dimdim Virtual Classroom edition is used by leading universities such as Ohio State University and University of Pennsylvania, K-12 districts such as Boone County, KY and educational companies such as Myngle and TutorJam.
All edition of Dimdim allow anyone to deliver synchronized live presentations, whiteboards and web pages and share their voice and video over the Internet – with no download required. Not only is the source code to Dimdim available via GPL, there is a free Dimdim API which just increase the possibility of wild mashup. Due to rich API, Dimdim can be integrated to some popular software such as –Zimbra, SugerCRM, Moodle, Claroline, Docebo etc. There is even a Facebook application built on top of Dimdim.
These guys are not only multiple award winner but as well used by high-profile clients like- US Department of Health, the United Nations, American Cancer Society, and the Internet Governance Forum. Free edition, Low cost professional tier, feature rich and used by respected high profile organizations—what else you need?