March 13, 2006 Linux Web Conferencing: Share And Share Alike? Platform Compatibility: One Goal, Two Paths. By Howard Wen Courtesy of Page 2 of 5 Compatibility Via Java or Flash Like most other proprietary Web conferencing applications with cross-platform capabilities, Glance was built using the Java programming language. Among other benefits, Java allows developers to create applications that users can run on any PC with a compatible Web browser, such as Mozilla Firefox; they do not have to download or install any additional software. This includes Marratech, which originated in 1995 as a Web conferencing technology research project written in Java and built on the Sun Solaris platform. Marratech's developers credit the Linux version of Sun's Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the software that enables the same Java application to run virtually unchanged on multiple platforms, for making it easy to develop a Linux version of the software. "When Sun released a Linux version of the Java Virtual Machine, the move [for us] was quite natural, says Serge Lachapelle, Product Manager and co-founder of Marratech AB. "Furthermore, the Linux JVM offers high performance and very good compatibility with the Windows JVM." In fact, many developers consider Java an especially good choice for building Linux applications, due to the availability of a fast, reliable Linux JVM. Glance Networks developers, for example, found that the Linux version of the company's Web conferencing software generally runs faster than its Windows counterpart. "Linux and the other UNIXes [including] BSD and OS X really never gave us a problem. And that's because they've always had really good Java implementation. With Linux it just sort of worked," Doe said. Java is not, however, the only option for building Linux-friendly Web conferencing software: Internet MegaMeeting, LLC elected to build its cross-platform Web conferencing service using Macromedia's (now Adobe Systems') Flash platform. Mega Meeting hosts its customers' Web conferencing sessions using Flash Communication Sever software, while the Flash Player provides a foundation for the company's front-end client application. "Since Macromedia's Flash Player functions pretty much the same on Linux as it does on Windows, there really were no notable challenges our development team encountered in ensuring MegaMeeting works on Linux," says Andy Saman, a senior programmer for Internet MegaMeeting. "We have also not experienced any major issues installing the Flash Communication Server technology on Linux systems." E-mail This Story Print This Story Page 3: Desktop Linux: A Familiar Dilemma. Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Get the latest Messaging news, product info, and trends every week.			Pump Up the Online Jam Review: Office Live Beta Puts SOHOs Online Analysis: AOL Teams With WebEx For Enterprise IM Office 2007 To Feature New Workflow, Collaboration Tools Yahoo Adds Features To Firefox Toolbar Gordano Updates Messaging Suite With SNMP Links     Messaging Pipeline's Main RSS Feed     Messaging Pipeline's Blog RSS Feed Editorial and vendor perspectives The Six Flavors Of Windows Vista Microsoft plans to release a full six-pack of Vista versions, one for every taste. Which Vista will be right for you? Hope is Not Enough When It Comes To Compliance Three Ways To Authenticate E-Mail And Stop Spam Wikis In The Workplace Review: Google Desktop 3 Vendors are now talking about how collaboration can be improved by integrating video with messaging applications. They're even talking about adding live TV to mobile phones. How far do you go before it becomes a bandwidth and business productivity drain? Video is a great idea     13% Video is fine but there needs to be size limits     25% It's never used for anything really productive     38% I draw the line at live TV     25% In search of messaging products? Check out our brand new Product Finder for a directory of groupware and collaboration tools, security products, archiving solutions, and more.