Introduction

If you are like a lot of people, you might just want us to recommend what to use so that you don t have to digest all the information in this book before deciding for yourself. What we have found is that once you are up and running and using personal videoconferencing, you will start trying to convince your friends and family to participate. You will receive many opinions from people that have been using other solutions they are happy with or that someone recommends for various reasons.

The goal for us with this book is to recommend a basic setup and then to educate you on many of the other options and solutions available, including the pros and cons of some of these solutions so that you do not get overwhelmed with input from your friends and colleagues. Being a techie or geek, as we are sometimes called, exposes us to an often overwhelming number of options that exist out there.

Keep in mind that the recommendations made in this chapter are solely to get you up and running. After that, you can try other personal videoconferencing solutions mentioned in this book and decide what you will use. Some video call solutions are free and some have one-time or monthly costs for each user. Of course, your personal preference will also play a part. Be sure to send me your comments on what you use and how you like it and I will post them to the www.VideoCallTips.com Web...