OpenMeetings 1.0 RC1 and Moodle Mod 0.6

we are happy to announce to release 1.0 RC1 of OpenMeetings and the compatible Moodle Module 0.6.

Major changes in Version 1.0 RC1

• New third room-type: "Restricted"
• New Calendar Module to Plan Meetings
• New Room configuration with option to add Default Moderators and Super Moderator
• Super Moderators (cannot be removed)
• Simplified and reworked UI, various bugfixes and help-texts
• New Secure Method for generating HASH's for direct Login via SOAP
• OpenMeetings as WAR-Version
• Various fixes and improvements
• Change to Eclipse Public License for OpenMeetings

Major Changes in Moodle Mod 0.6

• Compatible with latest Nightly Builds and Version 1.0 RC1
• Grouping and Group Configuration
• New 3th Room-Type "Restricted" available via Module Form

There are also Nightly Builds now available and you can compile a complete distribution only by using ANT.
http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/wiki/BuildSourceNew?tm=4#Nightly_Builds

And you can develop all tools according to our new source setup by using simply Eclipse tools.
http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/wiki/BuildSourceNew

Download:
http://openmeetings.googlecode.com/files/openmeetings_1_0_r2688.zip

Moodle Mod:
http://openmeetings.googlecode.com/files/openmeetings_moodle_mod_0_6.zip

Changelog:
http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/wiki/ChangeLog

Flash Player hidden feature - Echo Cancellation and P2P Live Streaming

I recently discovered two features of the Flash Player that are only available for "Premium" customers. These are interesting for Web-Conferencing Systems.

Did you ever notice that this flag in the ActionScript API *useEchoSuppression* does not seem to have any effect to the behavior? (API Docs: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0_de/ActionScriptLangRefV3/flash/media/Microphone.html#useEchoSuppression)
Well it is because there IS NO! This echo Cancellation is only available if you use Adobe Connect Pro. You can find a hole history of reports about this feature and people that investigated at the Adobe Bug Tracker (you have to sign up): http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-273 (this issue has started in August 2008, so its not really new). It seems like Adobe has the Code for the Echo Cancellation ready since SWF 9. But they refuse to include it into the Flash Player for everybody. You get an additional Add-On for this feature.
Another interesting feature can be seen live when you watch the CNN Live Broadcast:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream1

you should watch your network through-put. You will encounter after some minutes, that your upload is as big as your download rate! That means the Flash Player is able to use P2P to broadcast a Live Stream. Quite nice, unfortunately it seems the same thing here, you need a modified Version of the Flash Player for that feature.

Lets see how long they can follow that route...

OpenMeetings becomes even more liberal with EPL License

to bring OpenMeetings in line with the License of OpenLaszlo we will switch from the LGPL to the EPL with the next release.

What does that mean for you?
- Actually not that much.

Eclipse Public License is even a bit more liberal then the LGPL

Quote from wikkipedia.org:

The Eclipse Public License is designed to be a business friendly free software license, and features weaker copyleft provisions than contemporary licenses such as the GNU General Public License (GPL). The receiver of EPL-licensed programs can use, modify, copy and distribute the work and modified versions, in some cases being obligated to release their own changes.^[2]

The EPL is approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI)^[3] and the Free Software Foundation (FSF)^[4].

OpenMeetings 0.9 RC3 ready for testing

we are happy to announce the Release 0.9 RC3.
It is a bugfix release for users that have issues with:
- Document or Images that contain special characters (Russian, Scandinavian, German *umlaute*)
- Linux Users that have issues when typing special characters into input-fields

See a the complete changelog:
http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/wiki/ChangeLog

Integrate Collaboration features into your Portal or Website with OpenMeetings

To easily extend your Website or Portal with the Open Source Web-Conferencing of OpenMeetings you only need to have a SOAP Library for your Portal Software. In 99% there will be already such a Library that enables you to use the build in SOAP Methods of OpenMeetings to do the famous SSO (Single Sign On) to directly create/manage rooms of OpenMeetings from your Website.

The Single Sign On Flow is described within this graph:

The hole process is documented in OpenMeetings's wiki:

http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/wiki/DirectLoginSoapGeneralFlow

The trick about the SOAP Gateway in general is that you get a Session-Token, mark that Session-Token as logged in, and then set any User-Credentials that you would like into that Session-Token. And in the next step you use that Session-Token as Param in the URL that enters the Room. You don't need to populate any Users from your Portal into OpenMeetings! So you can run those applications even on different servers or build your very own system with several conference servers and one central portal software that redirects the user to those meeting-servers. That way you have a very flexible way of extending your Server infrastructure and can handle 10.000 and more users.

For security reasons login via SOAP is only possible for an Administrator Account. Otherwise any use could simulare 100+++ Users in the Meeting Server.
Additionally to the Direct Login there are a number of other services to manage Rooms, User et cetera:

http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/wiki/SoapMethods

We are also continuously extending this Gateway with new functionality. One already ready to run example of an integration is the Moodle Plugin (Test it here, no need to sign up http://www.openmeetings.de/moodle/ )

Updated Demo Version of Moodle Conferencing Plugin. Now with much more functionality in the Event Room. Try our demo at http://ping.fm/M53Ft

OpenMeetings 0.9 RC2 released

Major changes in MileStone 0.9 RC2:

• Multiple Moderators: A moderator can make other Users also Moderator (add or remove Moderation flag)
• No Confirmation from all users needed anymore to get Moderator (you just send a message to the Moderator)
• Completely refactored Event Modus with: Multiple Moderators, allow any User to draw to the whiteboard, Moderators can allow or deny any user to share his Cam or Microphone (Raise hand function)
• New Module Configuration XML-File to runtime configure Plugins and Modules
• New Language Translations: Swedish and Finnish contributed by www.openkvarken.fi
• Refactored parts of Calendar to fit into Layout and design
• Various Modifications and fixes

A complete list of all Issue working and worked on MileStone 0.9 can be seen at:

http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/issues/list?can=1&q=milestone%3DRelease0.9

Download of Release 0.9 RC2: http://openmeetings.googlecode.com/files/red5-openmeetings-090-rc2-r2227.zip

OpenMeetings 0.9 RC2 released, this includes a lot new Modifications, for example a new Event Modus Room, check http://ping.fm/oiOeX

Demo is now at r2219 including the new features of Moderation, new Event Room and functionality and some modifications to the Calendar. Register http://ping.fm/Hh0i8 for free!

OpenMeetings, the Open Source Web Conferencing has released a new package for Testing http://ping.fm/57d6g