Two More Videoconferencing Tools

Brendan Kidwell
https://www.glump.net/
6 June 2023

Jitsi Meet

https://meet.jit.si/

• Free-to-use zero-configuration meeting service.
• Works in web browser on a desktop computer with zero install.
• Works on IOS and Android with free native app.
• Start a meeting instantly without being logged in, and optionally password-protect the meeting.
• Capabilities:
  • Optionally require password to join the meeting.
  • Instant meeting start / no registration required.
  • Can create a meeting long in advance and publish the meeting ID to participants ahead of time.
  • Voice chat
  • Webcam video
  • Screen sharing
  • Whiteboard
  • Text chat
  • Stream meeting content to a YouTube livestream / recording.
  • Minimal moderation: ANYONE in the meeting can mute or kick out a participant.
• Maximum 75 participants.
  • I have heard that performance suffers when too many people are transmitting video (more than 10 people or so).
• Built-in free-to-use POTS (plain old telephone service) bridge allows guests to call into meeting from the voice phone network.
• Jisti Meet is free open source software: you can host your own private Jitsi platform with user registration and private channels.
• No “instant messenger” features:
  • No Friends / Contacts.
  • No text chat except

Boston Linux and Unix computer club [blu.org] has been using Jitsi Meet for their online meetings since the start of Covid, and it has worked well for them.

Jami

https://jami.net/

• Advertised as a “peer-to-peer” (decentralized) “softphone” and instant messaging application.
• Uses a distributed hash table for account registration; no centralized user directory or point of control.
• End-to-end encrypted.
• Client software and optional private regsitration server are all free open source software. User is in control.
• Client software available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, and IOS.
• Capabilities:
  • Presence (is my friend online?)
  • Instant messaging (text)
  • Audio/Video phone calls
  • Screen sharing
  • Whiteboard
  • Scheduled meetings with pre-determined ID and time
  • Can’t interface with POTS network (plain old telephone service – with area codes and phone numbers)
• Allegedly allows multiple devices for one user to share the same user identity on the decentralized network. (I never got this to work, in my testing.)

I can’t recommend Jami

In my testing, I could not link another device to my desktop instance of Jami. “Wrong password.” I was able to repeatedly change my password after validating my current password, but my current-at-this-time password never works for “Link another device”.

I tried this today with a brand new account, and my password does not work for “Link another device”. The UI must not be properly telling me what I should do to link client instances on this distributed network. This is not usable by normal people.

Also, the Windows client crashed hard a few times while I was just trying to setup my devices.