The other day, I needed to use a desktop sharing tool. For the last few years, I had a corporate version of Gotomeeting. It worked pretty well and even had a conference call number that worked most of the time. I wanted to find the same thing, but free, and without the conference call number.
One suggestion I had heard was DimDim. The website was very friendly and rich, so I decided to give it a shot. The main feature I liked was “no install”.
I used the service to host a meeting with a designer. I wanted to show my desktop. The system was a bit hard to figure out, but I got it started eventually. Then immediately, it told me I had to install a desktop sharing exe file. What?? I was pissed. This is bait and switch. I wanted “no install”. Well, I bit the bullet and installed it. It immediately complained that it wouldn’t work with dual monitors. Ugh!! I tried to use the “Share a webpage” feature, but it wouldn’t let me access the intranet. Ugh, ugh grrr! So I disconnected my second display and finally shared my desktop.
The next thing that went wrong is that the camera on the laptop immediately started showing video/audio which seemed to slow down the overall desktop sharing bandwidth experience. I found it really hard to turn off the camera. After finally finding the button, I could begin my meeting in earnest.
It’s cool technology, but the management of expectations and the limitations drove me nuts. I don’t think I will be trying it again . They have a corporate license here for another product called TeamViewer. I’ll try that next. My advice to DimDim is to fix the limitation for dual monitors and to manage expectations that you need to install a program to use it.
Whatya think?