FOR YEARS, videoconferencing applications have been the province of large compa¬nies, but price drops and Web app advances have made the technology accessible to smaller businesses. We found three good, free (or inexpen¬sive), easy-to-use videocon¬ferencing options: OoVoo, SightSpeed, and Yugma.
Packing the most robust video capabilities in this group, 00¬Voo supports six-way video¬conferencing with very good pictuf\e quality. The video's size scales down as the number
of users goes up, so it won't hog all of your bandwidth. And you can still surf and upload files while conferencing.

Installing the desktop client and set¬ting up an account take just a couple of minutes. Once installed, you will see a contact-list window similar to those in instant messaging programs, OoVoo works in much the same way as these apps, so it's a snap to learn.

Like most Web audio, OoVoo's audio was fairly good, though we noted some vocal jitter and delay here and there. Users have the option of communicating via text chat, record¬ing i-minute video messages to send to coworkers, and transferring files to other contacts.

OoVoo lacks the business collabora¬tion features present in most Web conferencing software, including schedul¬ing, whiteboarding, desktop sharing, and presentation capabilities. But judicious use of the texting and file transfer tools should handle most meeting needs.

SightSpeed Business SightSpeed Business is a business¬friendly version of the company's con¬sumer offering.The Business service's main upgrade is that it can display up to four talking heads on screen during a call. The Simple to navigate. To begin videocon¬ferencing, your contacts must first install the basic SightS peed client.

To initiate a call, you select your con¬tact's name, hover your pointer over one of four icons-for video, tele¬phone, video message recorder, or text message-and click the medium of your choice.

You can easily record calls, share files, adjust video controls, and mute the audio. The well-organized administra¬tive console lets you manage users, view call logs, and buy conferencing time; moving from one task to another is a simple matter as well.

Sightspeed's video quality was somewhat inconsistent. During one test, a face on the screen was sharp but the background seemed washed out; the next time, the whole video looked a tad fuzzy. Whether we were using VoIP or calling out to land-line or cell phones, the audio generally sounded loud and clear, though we detected occasional stuttering. As is the case with all these applications, the amount of available bandwidth directly affects video and audio quality.



Yugma Skype Edition

If your business uses Skype, adding Yugma tools can boost your videoconferencing pro¬ductivity at a very low cost. Yugma doesn't have the video

chops ofOoVoo and Sight¬Speed-its video is limited to two-person conferenc¬ing-but it's simple to use, and the baSic service is free for up to ten users. We reviewed the Yugma Skype Extra add-on, which allows Yugma to tap into Skype's proven peer-to-peer voice and video technology. When you send out a meeting invitation via e-mail, attendees receive a number that they can enter along with their user ID to join the conference at an appointed time. Skype video is limited to two-way conferencing, the service switch¬es into audio-only mode when more than two people have joined the conference.

That limitation is countered balanced by Yugma Skype's impressive collabo¬ration tools, which include desktop sharing, document sharing, and session recording-a rare and valuable feature.