Ask YC: Best cheap or free screen sharing solutions? | Hacker News Reader

Ask YC: Best cheap or free screen sharing solutions?

5 pointsericb19 comments

I'm wondering what cheap or free screen sharing solutions people have found? I have someone working remotely on my project, and it would be handy to do some screen sharing sessions. The ideal solution would let you pass control back and forth, but passive viewing is ok (if it's free). The ideal solution would also be cross platform. Thoughts?

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If you're using a text interface, GNU Screen is excellent. I use screen usually; VNC if I need to share a GUI

http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/

the annoying thing about screen is that both people need to log in using the same username to share a screen session. correct me if i'm mistaken.

You are mistaken. See here: http://aperiodic.net/screen/multiuser

http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx

Good thing is that you don't even have to install. Free for non-commercial use.

thanks

i don't understand, you're only sharing with one person? isn't that perfect VNC territory? both people can control the screen, it's free, it's open source, it's cross platform... what am i missing? what's fundamentally bad about this that no one else has mentioned it yet? maybe i'm just behind the curve on this.

Check out http://meeting.zoho.com

It is in free while it is in Beta and even later it should remain affordable.

Supports Flash, Java and ActiveX modes, so your platform concerns are addressed.

Depending on OS, iChat works pretty damn well, and it has a feature for sharing presentations as well. But I'm uncertain as to whether that works at all with Windows or Linux programs.

The screen sharing component of Leopard is just plain old VNC that you can enable/disable on your own in Sharing prefs in System Preferences, so yes it should work with any VNC client for Windows or Linux.

The iChat integration I'm not so sure about either. But you don't need iChat to use screen sharing.

I use GoToMeeting. It's 50 bucks a month, so I'm not sure what your "cheap" parameter is.

I also don't know if it's cross-platform.

That being said, it's a great piece of software; I've been very pleased with it.

VNC.

Go to www.acrobat.com and use Adobe's free ConnectNow service which is far more elegant than those other solutions and free if it's just two people connecting.

http://www.mikogo.com/Welcome.aspx

Mikogo is great and works seamlessly with Skype (but only on the Windows side). We use this internally; launching Parallels is a small price to pay to be able to be on the same page without having to be in the same room.

From Spolsky and Co: https://www.copilot.com/

A second vote for Acrobat.com's ConnectNow. You can have up to 3 people (including you) and it works great.

I've also used Glance: http://glance.net/site/Home.asp and it works - basically VNC but easier to use I think.

For Windows: SharedView http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=94

screenstream : http://www.nchsoftware.com/screen/

It is a free Windows only application. What I like about that the only software the client needs is a web browser. No ActiveX, no java, no flash. The application is basically a http server that serves screenshots of whatever window has focus. So it does not allow remote control.

It also supports video cams and audio.

Bonus points to anyone that create an opensource multiplatform clone.

Yugma http://yugma.com Free Basic screen sharing abilities. And it's cross platform

The absolute best and free: www.dimdim.com

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