To properly explain this one, it's important to first distinguish the various "real time" use cases. All use cases need chat, most need audio and screensharing. However, there are some "key distinctive features" which make some tools great at one use case, but poor for another. Some solutions have variations. For example, Adobe has Adobe Connect Meetings, Adobe Connect Learning, Adobe Connect Webinars.
| Type | Predominant mode | Key distinctive features | Typical app |
| Ongoing Team collaboration on projects | 1 to 1, many to many or emergent | Presence, and can escalate to audio / video / screensharing as needed | Skype |
| Meetings / conference calls | Many to many | Meeting notes (meeting agenda, and live collaborative note taking for decisions) | Etherpad + phone call, or Skype |
| Webinars / Scheduled Course | 1 to many | Presentation and whiteboard | BigBlueButton |
| Community presence and support | many to many | web interface and desktop/mobile clients | IRC |
| Help desk for team members | 1 to 1, but can be transferred | Share screen and remote control Easier to install software on their computer. | TeamViewer |
| Help desk for customers | 1 to 1, but can be transferred | To route request to someone who is available. Canned responses. Difficult to install software on their computer. | Openfire Fastpath |
| Remote Management | 1 to no one or 1 to 1 | Remote login and management, even unattended | VNC / Guacamole |
We picked Openfire for the following reasons:
We ultimately want Openfire / WikiSuite to be awesome at covering all the use cases above.
While Openfire Meetings and BigBlueButton broadly share the same feature set (videoconferencing, screensharing, etc), there are fundamental difference.
BigBlueButton is a distance education tool.