TEFL Guide To Using MS NetMeeting

TEFL/ESL/EFL guide to using NetMeeting for teaching english on the internet.

NetMeeting's Features

- voice
- text chat
- application and document sharing
- video conference
- whiteboard
- drawing tools
- remote PC control

First released in 1997, Microsoft NetMeeting continues to be a popular and reliable VoIP and web-conferencing tool even until today. NetMeeting's popularity is partly due to the fact there is still a large community of users and resources dedicated to this tool. But perhaps the main reason for the programs popularity is that NetMeeting is a free software that is still pre-installed in many versions of Microsoft Windows - from Windows 95 to Windows XP.

After the release of Windows XP, Microsoft began to depreciate NetMeeting in favor of Windows Messenger. However, if you are a Windows user, its probably likely that NetMeeting is still installed on your computer. For more information about system requirements and setting up NetMeeting, see the Quick Visual Guide to Setting Up NetMeeting on your PC.

Perhaps the reason why NetMeeting is not completely phased out is because Microsoft Windows Messenger hooks directly into NetMeeting's whiteboard, application sharing and desktop sharing features.

As of January 30, 2007, Microsoft plans to make it's long awaited worldwide release of Windows Vista - the new operating system that is intended to replace the current Windows XP operating system. Windows Vista will no longer be installed with NetMeeting, instead it will be replaced by Windows Meeting Space, an application with similar features to NetMeeting.

Once you have NetMeeting running on your desktop, you will need to connect to an ILS Server and find your contact. The directory server contains a list of people you can contact who are all using NetMeeting. A word of warning, many ILS directories containing contacts linked to pornographic sites - check the directory listing carefully if this is a concern to you. The default Microsoft directory no longer supports NetMeeting. You can find many dedicated NetMeeting community servers by doing a search on the internet for companies that will allow you to use their servers for free.

Advantages
- a free tool that a majority of people have on their PC menu list.
- simple and non-technical for many people to use.
- large community of users and resource support

Disadvantages
- No official Customer Support by Microsoft besides the programs help guide and the official Microsoft NetMeeting WebSite (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/default.asp).

A Quick Visual Guide to Using NetMeeting

1. TEFL Guide To MS NetMeeting
2. Getting NetMeeting To Run On Your Computer
3. Finding A Free Server, and Using Netmeeting to Add a Contact and Place a Call