Virtual Whiteboards

We look at seven desktop-conferencing programs that bring coworkers together over shared, editable documents

David Seachrist

Sharing and discussing ideas with colleagues, regardless of their location, is what makes videoconferencing so attractive. But for some collaborative work, you don't have to see and hear each other. Document-conferencing software -- a set of tools for sharing "live" documents across remote or networked computers -- is often an easier and more cost-effective alternative.

NSTL evaluates seven Windows-based, NetWare-compatible programs that provide some level of collaborative editing of bit-mapped images (a technique known as whiteboarding). All seven also offer varying degrees of file transfer. Most of them let you share and annotate Windows applications. Recognizing t he appeal of videoconferencing to many companies, we limited our review to document-conferencing programs that have upgrade paths to videoconferencing (see the table "General Program Features" ).

PictureTel's LiveShare Plus is the clear winner for its ease of use, feature versatility, and performance. Our second and third choices, Intel's ProShare Premier Edition and Future Labs' TalkShow, top LiveShare Plus in supporting conferencing between more than two workstations.

Conferencing Basics

Document-conferencing programs offer four main ways to collaborate: whiteboarding, applications and data sharing, file transfer, and real-time text messaging (i.e., chatting). Whiteboard modules are named after their real-world counterparts, but in practice they more resemble paint programs. Because the whiteboard is a graphical environment, documents imported into it can't be edited as they could in a word processor. Instead, editing marks are superimposed on the "page." Thus, a program's ability to get graphics into and out of the whiteboard module, and its selection of markup tools, strongly determine its usefulness.

To get images into whiteboards, the most convenient way is print capture, in which you convert word processing files to print files using a special Windows driver. You can also use import filters to pull in files saved in Windows' BMP format. (All but one of the programs do some type of importing, but they vary widely in the number of file types supported.) A third approach uses the Windows Clipboard to import screens captured from other Windows programs.

Three image-manipulation tools are important in making whiteboarding a comfortable medium. Magnification allows closer scrutiny of the screen. Synchronization refreshes all participants' screens to make sure they are working with the same information at the same time. Page sorters allow browsing and moving document pages by viewing thumbnails. The features comparison table shows which products have these tools. (All seven support synchronization.)

Applications-sharing capabilities vary, with some programs offering a remote-control environment that lets users edit files simultaneously. Others periodically send bit-mapped images that can be edited by only one attendee, though seen by all. The reviewed programs do not support this feature as well as they do whiteboarding. In judging them, look for full remote control (where two people can take turns editing the same file) and the ability to share data in the Windows Clipboard.

File transfer lets you send files (e.g., a spreadsheet) between conference attendees to allow the sharing of data for off-line and on-line editing. All seven programs do this. Their interfaces vary somewhat, but they all center on the Windows File Open dialog box, where you select files from a scrolling file list and issue a command to send.

Chatting allows the exchanging of text messages in real time. If y ou're used to the amenities of on-line services such as Prodigy and America Online, you will not be impressed with the relatively simple tools available in these programs.

AT&T Vistium Share

Based on AT&T's TeleMedia Personal Video System, AT&T Vistium Share is a low-cost, easy-to-use solution that sacrifices versatility to gain simplicity, though its performance is generally among the best . It lags behind the other programs in its whiteboard and applications- and data-sharing features. (It can't import spreadsheets, for example, and it lacks a page sorter.) Chat support is minimal, and password protection is nonexistent.

Vistium Share is speedy in five of the six performance tests, slowing down only in network file transfer tests. It's also the only program to support the telephony API (TAPI), making it easier to customize with other telephony applications.

Face to Face

Priced at only $59, Crosswise's Face to Face is meant to be a simpler, less-feature-rich solution than the other products. Thus, it lacks applications- and data-sharing features, and it has mediocre speed and versatility.

Face to Face can't import Windows BMP files, which is an important requirement for routine whiteboard use. Instead, you must use the program's print-capture utility to bring documents into the whiteboard.Face to Face is the only cross-platform product, however, with Macintosh and Windows versions.

InVision

InVision, from InVision Systems, is the only reviewed program that has bundled videoconferencing software. It employs an older -- and less feature-rich -- version of a competitor, Future Labs' TalkShow, for many of its conferencing features. It is unique, however, in employing OLE, rather than standard remote control, for applications sharing. This approach makes it harder to use, however.

Along with TalkShow and IBM Direct's Person to Person, InVision allows more than two people to mark up a document per conference. It is among the top two in network file transfer speed, but it's a bit below average in whiteboard speed.

LiveShare Plus

PictureTel's LiveShare Plus clearly offers the best balance of usability, features, and performance. This program is the hands-down winner in two-site conferencing, but it also has numerous other advantages, including the best chat environment and friendly installation.

LiveShare Plus's tool set and work environment are more complete than those of the other programs. Its overall performance score puts it head and shoulders above the rest due to fast file transfer and efficient whiteboard transfers. However, it can't do data sharing over ISDN or TCP/IP lines, and its interoperability support is poor (though the others aren't much better at supporting international standards and non-Windows environments such as the Mac or OS/2).

Person to Person

IBM Direct's offering has the best file transfer feature s of the group. Besides letting you view the status of incoming and outgoing files and saving the results to a log file, the program allows the attaching of files to text messages, as in E-mail. Its chat windows, like those in LiveShare Plus, are the best of the lot, showing participants' names and date/time stamps of when messages were sent.

Performance is Person to Person's downfall. Surprisingly, its two-level compression scheme somehow results in more bytes flying across the network during file transfers.

Person to Person's whiteboard lacks a highlighter tool, a page sorter, and a zoom option -- all helpful during the often awkward process of coordinating shared document editing.

ProShare Premier Edition

Intel's document-conferencing program offers usability and features comparable to LiveShare Plus. It is our second choice, winning high praise for ease of use. It has excellent applications-sharing and file transfer features, and an especially user-frien dly whiteboard.

As is the case with Face to Face, InVision, and TalkShow, ProShare Premier Edition comes with a receive-only version that you can send to conference participants. This purposely limited version of the program does not let recipients initiate their own conferences.

But for disappointing performance, ProShare Premier Edition might have been our top pick. However, the product also is hurt by lack of a whiteboard eraser, chat module, and password protection.

TalkShow

TalkShow's multipoint conferencing and strong support of transfer protocols merit praise. The program lets LAN and modem participants join a single conference (InVision and Person to Person also do it), and it's the only one that lets you scan documents directly into the whiteboard.

Ranking near the top in ease of use, TalkShow is only middling in performance and feature versatility. Raw file transfer speed is among the fastest, but network efficiency in whiteboard transfers (which adds file size to the equation) is among the worst. The program's applications-sharing module lets only one participant make changes, and its chat windows are not as informative as those in Person to Person and LiveShare Plus. However, its whiteboard is among the easiest to use. It employs a slide-tray metaphor that functions as a page sorter.

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This report contains the partial results of a recent issue of Software Digest , a monthly publication of NSTL, Inc. To purchase a complete copy of the report, contact NSTL at 625 Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, PA 19428, (610) 941-9600; fax (610) 941-9950; on the Internet, editors@nstl.com. For a subscription, call (800) 257-9402. BYTE Magazine

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PRODUCT INFORMATION

AT&T Vistium Share 1.0...........$99

AT&T Global Information Solut
ions
Dayton, OH
(800) 447-1124 


Face to Face 2.0.1...............$59

Crosswise Corp.
Santa Cruz, CA
(800) 747-9060
(408) 459-9060
fax: (408) 426-3859 


InVision 3.1.23.................$595

InVision Systems Corp.
Tulsa, OK
(800) 847-1662
fax: (918) 584-7775 


LiveShare Plus 2.0..............$249

PictureTel Corp.
Danvers, MA
(800) 716-6000
(508) 762-5000
fax: (508) 762-5245


Person to Person 1.0.3..........$280

IBM Direct
(800) 342-6672
fax: (512) 823-1864


ProShare Premier Edition 1.6....$299

Intel Corp.
Hillsboro, OR
(800) 538-3373
(503) 629-7354
fax: (503) 264-6223


TalkShow 3.02...................$249

Future Labs, Inc.
Los Altos, CA
(415) 254-9000
fax: (415) 254-9010

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Overview

NSTL    Product/Version        Perfor-   Versa-  Ease of  Ease of  Price
Rating                          mance    tility  Learning   Use
   
=============================================================================
****     LiveShare Plus 2.0       G        G        G        G     $249
***      ProShare Premier         U        F        G        G     $299     
         Edition 1.6
***      TalkShow 3.02            F        F        G        G     $249     
***      AT&T Vistium Share 1.0   F        U        G        G      $99 
**       InVision 3.1.23          F        F        G        G     $595 
**       Person to Person 1.0.3   U        F        G        G     $280  
*        Face to Face 2.0.1       U        U        G        G      $59



Key
=====
     
*****  Outstanding      
****   Excellent     
***    Average     
**     Below average     
*      Poor  
G   Good  
F   Fair
U   Unacceptable

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Conferencing Features

             AT&T     Face  InVision  LiveShare  Person to  ProShare  TalkShow
             Vistium   to                Plus
     Person    Premier
             Share    Face
===============================================================================

VIDEOCONFERENCING


===================

Capture video   N        N      N          N         N          N        Y(1)
to movie file

Capture still   Y(1)     N      Y          Y(1)      Y(1)       Y(1)     Y(1)
to Clipboard

Capture still   Y(1)     N      Y          Y(1)      Y(1)       Y(1)     Y(1)
to file

Freeze frame    Y(1)     N      Y          Y(1)      Y(1)       Y(1)     Y1
Adjust color    Y(1)     N      Y          N         Y(1)       Y(1)     Y(1)


WHITEBOARDING


===============

Selection or    Y        N      Y          Y         Y          Y        Y
screen-capture 
tool

Copy/cut/paste  Y        N      Y          Y         Y          Y        Y
and clear

Page sorter/    N        N      Y          Y         N          Y        Y
organizer

Highlighter     Y        N      Y
          Y         N          Y        Y 
tool

Magnification   N        N      Y          Y         N          Y        Y
(zoom) tool

Import graphics Y        N      Y          Y         Y          Y        Y
files

Import text     Y        N      Y          N         Y          Y        Y
files

Import spread-  N        N      Y          N         N          Y        Y
sheet files

Import via      Y        N      N          Y         Y          Y        Y
Windows 
Clipboard

Export graphics Y        N      Y          Y         Y          Y        Y
files




APPLICATIONS AND DATA SHARING
===============================

Share Windows   Y        N      N          Y         Y          Y        N
Clipboard

Number of       2        0      0          2         0          2    Unlimited 
applications-
sharing 
participants

Users can       Y        N      N          Y         N          Y        N
request/relinquish
control of shared 
applications

Share DOS
       N        N      N          Y         Y          Y        Y
applications

Share Windows   Y        N      N          Y         Y          Y        Y
applications

OLE and         Y        N      Y          N      DDE only      Y        Y
DDE support




FILE TRANSFER
===============

Attach file     N        N      N          N         Y          N        N
to message

View transfer   Y        N      N          Y         Y          Y        N
status

Option to       N        N      Y          N         Y          Y        Y
compress/
decompress
files during 
send/receive




CHAT
======

Number of       2        0      2          2          8          0    Unlimited
chat 
participants

Chat window     N        N      Y          Y          Y          N       Y
lists 
participants


(1) Requires additional package sold by same vendor or third-party
vendors.
Y = yes; N = no. 
Features not integral to the package are marked N but are som
etimes
available as options or in future versions.

---

General Program Features

             AT&T     Face  InVision  LiveShare  Person to  ProShare  TalkShow
             Vistium   to                Plus     Person    Premier
             Share    Face
===============================================================================

Communications/Networking


==============================

Number of       2        2      (1)        2         8          2      17 (TCP)
attendees per  
document
conference (LAN)

Number of       2        2      17 (TCP)   2         8          2      17 (TCP)
attendees per 
document
conference (modem)

Number of       2        0      11         0         1          1      0
video-capture 
boards supported

Document        Y        Y       Y         Y         Y          Y      Y  
conferencing 
via plain old
telephone system 
(POTS)

Document        N        Y
       Y         N         Y          Y      Y
conferencing 
via ISDN

Document        Y        Y       Y         Y         Y          Y      Y
conferencing 
via LAN

Document        N        Y       Y         N         Y          Y      Y
conferencing 
via TCP/IP

Simultaneous    N        N       Y         N         Y          N      Y
LAN and modem
connections in 
document conference

Videoconfer-    N        N       Y         N         N          N      Y
encing via 
POTS(2)

Videoconfer-    Y        N       Y         Y         N          Y      Y
encing via 
ISDN(2)

Videoconfer-    N        N       Y         Y         Y          Y      Y
encing via 
LAN(2)

Videoconfer-    N        N       Y         N         N          Y      Y
encing via 
TCP/IP(2)

Simultaneous    N        N       N         N         N          Y      N
LAN and modem
connections 
in video-
conference(2)

Supports        Y        N       N         N         N          N      N
telephony API 
(TAPI)





ADDRESS BOOK


==============

Allows          Y        N       Y         Y         Y          Y      Y
multiple-
address 
databases

Maintains LAN   Y        Y       Y         Y         Y          Y      Y
and modem 
addresses

Attach graphics Y        N       Y         N         N          Y      Y
files (photos) 
to address

Attach movie    N        N       N         N         N          N      N
files to 
address




MISCELLANEOUS


===============

Number of modem 190     193      43       160        20        183    234
setups included

Add custom      Y        Y       Y         Y         Y          Y      Y
modem setup

Supports Voice  N        Y       Y         Y         Y          Y      Y
over Data 
(VOD) modems

Utility to      Y        Y       Y         Y         N          Y      Y
print third-
party files to 
document image 
files

(1) 13 using IPX/SPX, seven using NetBIOS.     
(2) Requi
res additional videoconferencing hardware.     
Y = yes; N = no

Features not integral to the package are marked N but are sometimes
available as options or in future versions.

---

Graphing Whiteboards

illustration_link (6 Kbytes)

AT&T Vistium Share was the fastest program at updating a graph displayed on the whiteboard. This test used uncompressed files to measure network performance only (factoring out file loading, format conversion, establishing the network link, and so forth).

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The Magnificent Seven Ride Anew

screen_link (44 Kbytes)

Superior performance, richness of features, and ease of use make PictureTel's LiveShare Plus the best of seven document-conferencing programs reviewed by NSTL. Shown here are LiveShare Plus's whiteboard (left) and applications-sharing module, standard components in any good conferencing program.