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Advanced Conferencing

This comparison has been updated for Windows Vista and moved to our new website Mac vs. Windows

Overview

Advanced conferencing encompasses such abilities as shared whiteboard, application sharing and remote assistance.

Mac OS X

iChat AV can be automated with AppleScript, but does not support whiteboards, application sharing, or remote assistance.

Windows XP

Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger users can:

  • Share applications
  • Ask for remote assistance
  • Share a virtual whiteboard

These features are all provided directly or indirectly by Windows Messenger. XP users looking to share applications or a whiteboard with users of older Windows versions can use NetMeeting to acheive effectively the same result; Remote Assistance requires both users to be running Windows XP. MSN Messenger 7 further extends these capabilities by having a 'mini-whiteboard' built in to every conversation window. It supports multiple colors and pen input with variable width settings (you can use a mouse too if you don't have a tablet), and appears inline in a text conversation. They cannot be edited once sent, and are not saved in the automatic conversation logs (but can be exported as part of a Rich Text File). You won't be creating any masterpieces with your mouse, but a quick sketch or diagram can be very useful to clarify something in a conversation.

The following table summarizes the features of iChat AV, Windows Messenger, and MSN Messenger:

iChat AV 3.0 Windows Messenger 5.1 MSN Messenger 7.0 Comments
Application sharing No Yes Yes
Remote assistance No Yes Yes
Whiteboard sharing No Yes Yes
In-conversation whiteboard No No Yes
Scriptable Yes No Yes* *via Windows Scripting

Conclusion

Aside from being scriptable, iChat AV offers no advanced conferencing features. Both Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger best iChat with their ability to share applications and whiteboards between users, as well as conduct remote assistance. In addition, MSN Messenger offers an in-line whiteboard feature, and can also be scripted through Windows Scripting.

Mac OS X: 1
Windows XP: 8 (9)

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