Microsoft NetMeeting is a discontinued

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

and multi-point

videoconferencing Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio signal, audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Vide ...

program offered by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. NetMeeting allows multiple clients to host and join a call that includes video and audio, text chat, application and desktop sharing, and file sharing. It was originally bundled with

Internet Explorer 3 Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 (IE3) is the third version of the Internet Explorer graphical web browser which was announced in March 1996, and was released on August 13, 1996 by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and on January 8, 1997 for Apple Ma ...

and then with Windows versions from

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003, codenamed "Whistler Server", is the sixth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft and the first server version to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It is part of the Windows NT ...

History

NetMeeting was released on May 29, 1996, with Internet Explorer 3 and later

Internet Explorer 4 Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE4) is the fourth version of the Internet Explorer graphical web browser that Microsoft unveiled in Spring of 1997, and released on September 22, 1997, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but also with versions availa ...

. It incorporated technology acquired by Microsoft from UK software developer Data Connection Ltd and DataBeam Corporation (subsequently acquired by

Lotus Software Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was sold to India's HCL Technologies in 2018. Lotus is most commonly known for the Lotus 1-2-3 sprea ...

). Before video service became common on free IM clients, such as Yahoo! Messenger and

MSN Messenger MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as MSN), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a Cross-platform software, cross-platform instant messaging client, instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the now-di ...

, NetMeeting was a popular way to perform video conferences and chat over the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

(with the help of public ILS servers, or "direct-dialing" to an

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...

). The defunct

TechTV TechTV was an American cable television channel with a focus on technology. It was launched as ZDTV on May 11, 1998, by computer magazine publisher Ziff Davis, Ziff-Davis following two short-lived technology-based programs by the company. Init ...

channel even used NetMeeting as a means of getting viewers onto their call-in shows via webcam, although viewers had to call on their telephones, because broadband Internet connections were still rare.

Protocol architecture

NetMeeting is an implementation of the ITU T.120 and H.323 protocol stacks for

, with Microsoft extensions. A call is set up, undertaken and torn down between NetMeeting clients using the H.225 protocol. Audio is carried using H.245, encoded using the G.711 and G.723.1 codecs from 5.3 to 64

kbit/s In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits ( bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mu ...

, while the video is encoded using the H.263 and H.261 codecs. Application sharing is performed using the "Share 2.0" protocol, based on a pre-release version of T.128, with the protocol also being used to transport chat messages; whiteboard sharing uses ITU T.126, while file sharing is performed using

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and dat ...

over T.127. Due to its use of a standardised protocol, NetMeeting can

interoperate Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader de ...

with other H.323-implementing software, such as Ekiga.

Discontinuation

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

, the Start menu shortcut to NetMeeting was removed “by design”. Users had to start conf.exe manually from the Start menu Run dialog. As of

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

, NetMeeting is no longer included with Microsoft Windows. NetMeeting can still be installed and run on the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista, as Microsoft published an update for 32-bit versions of Windows Vista on March 22, 2007 that installs NetMeeting 3.02 on Windows Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate editions. However, some features are not available in 3.02 such as remote desktop sharing invitations (incoming) and whiteboard area selection. Microsoft has stated that the Vista compatible version is unsupported and is only meant as a transition tool to help support collaboration sessions when used with Windows XP-based computers. On

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate, users can use Windows XP Mode to run NetMeeting. Microsoft originally recommended using newer applications such as Meeting Space,

Remote Desktop In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely from one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server or a sma ...

Remote Assistance Quick Assist is a Microsoft Windows feature that allows a user to view or control a remote Windows computer over a network or the Internet to resolve issues without directly touching the unit. It is based on the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It i ...

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

Microsoft Office Live Meeting Microsoft Office Live Meeting is a discontinued commercial subscription-based web conferencing service operated by Microsoft. Live Meeting included software installed on client PCs and used a central server for all clients to connect to. The service ...

and SharedView in place of NetMeeting. Skype for Business Server and Skype for Business (known previously by Office Communicator and Lync), and

Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams is a team collaboration platform developed by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft 365 suite. It offers features such as workspace chat, video conferencing, file storage, and integration with both Microsoft and third-party applicat ...

represent recent videoconferencing products from Microsoft, which may be considered successors to NetMeeting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Microsoft Netmeeting Internet Explorer add-ons

NetMeeting Microsoft NetMeeting is a discontinued VoIP and multi-point videoconferencing program offered by Microsoft. NetMeeting allows multiple clients to host and join a call that includes video and audio, text chat, application and desktop sharing, and f ...

Windows 98 Discontinued Windows components Teleconferencing Videotelephony

History

Protocol architecture

Discontinuation

See also

References