DimDim— You won’t be hungry an hour later

It was nearly a year ago that I reviewed dimdim for the first time.  I found out about the application from a reader of this blog and was extremely impressed with the product. I recently ran into the Community Manager for dimdim Kevin Micalizzi (@kevinmic) at a Social Media event and thought it was time to bring my followers up-to-date. Since then I have looked at numerous other players in this segment, yet dimdim keeps floating to the top.

For those of you who haven’t heard of dimdim, it’s a browser-based service that allows users to share their desktop and presentations for webinars and conference calls.  WebEx is probably one of their biggest enterprise competitors.

There are three factors that really put this product on the top of my list:

1. An uncompromising FREE version of the service– hosting up to 20 participants
2. The company maintains an Open Source Community version of the product
3. It works on all my computers (XP, Windows 7, OS X, and Linux)

I really like this tool. It is easy to use and being able to run it on my little Linux Netbook is huge for me. If I can join or host a presentation from my Netbook, that means I can work from almost anywhere. In my life, it’s all about productivity.

So, lets take a look at the services dimdim offers:

  • Desktop and live slide presentations
  • Interactive whiteboard
  • Web page sharing
  • Audio and Video
  • Dial-in conference bridge

All these feature — and no software for participants to download. Whether your team uses Windows, Mac, or Linux, they will be able to join your meetings with a consistent user experience.

With dimdim your meeting environment can be easily tailored to your needs through the “Host Meeting” menus. Through these menus, the host can define what services will be available during the meeting. Service such as screen sharing, whiteboard, web, and document sharing can be turned on or off with the click of a button.

Scheduling a meeting is a breeze. The “General” tab contains everything you need to schedule meetings and invite participants. Meetings can be started immediately or scheduled sometime in the future. There is even an option to schedule recurring meetings. To assure only folks you invite can attend the meeting, participants can be required to provide their email address and a meeting key.

Behold elegant simplicity.

Dimdim’s price is pretty easy to swallow too. The FREE version supports 20 meeting participants with full functionality; that’s one sweet deal. For larger groups with added business features and up to 50 participants you are looking at $19 per month, which is a great price if you have ever examined competing services such as WebEx. For the big boys at 1000 + participants, the price is negotiable. Obviously, for the most up-to-date info on pricing you should check out the dimdim website.

As for the differences between the various service levels, take a look at the table below:

As you can see from the breakout, the most important features are available even in the FREE version.

Look, if you host on-line presentations, it’s well worth your time and money to check out dimdim. I think you will be surprised just how much value is in this product.

Mark Nassal

Editor: @malitchick

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