Overview

In this appendix we will discuss in some detail most of the video call software solutions currently available. We touch on more than 40 video call software solutions; if we miss one or two solutions, either they have a vertical application or they are not widely used.

Now we will try to make sense of the plethora of solutions that exist in the software video call space so you can start to select what you need for your particular needs. We defined personal videoconferencing, business videoconferencing, and Web videoconferencing. Just know that anything that sends audio and video is a possibility for personal videoconferencing. We will only show screenshots and details of the better solutions, which are those that rate 4 or 5. Since we are trying to help you select a solution, we will do so by the categories and ratings. Of course, you are free to select anything you want and try it to see if a particular solution works for you. Also, because the solutions in this chapter are free, we recommend using multiple solutions because you may find that some of your family and friends will like solutions for certain reasons. I use MSN Messenger, Skype, and SightSpeed on my Windows systems and iChat AV and SightSpeed on my Mac and they all coexist just fine.

Because there are so many solutions, we need to somehow divide up the solutions into a few categories so that we may better compare or classify them for an...