I watched the Microsoft launch announcement webcast for their Unified Communications offerings this week. My interests (of course) centered on the role of Live Meeting web conferencing in the mix. I was hoping we might hear something about a general availability date for the 2007 release or more specifics on feature implementation. Live Meeting 2007 was announced back in June with an overview of the new features that were coming up. It was promised for "some time this Fall." Now I'm getting itchy to see how they deliver on the promise.
While there are some nice feature demonstration videos on the Live Meeting page, it's not the same as having them available in software to play with.
I was disappointed, but not surprised, to hear the way Bill Gates introduced the Unified Communications philosophy. He came out swinging at the telephone as an archaic communications vehicle and mostly emphasized how Microsoft was out to fundamentally change real time two way communications. A lot of it boiled down to being able to instantly speak to another person no matter where they are (a concept that still makes me cringe a bit).
A long demonstration used a fictitious business scenario to demonstrate the use of all the different communication channels in the UC lineup. Live Meeting was relegated to something of an afterthought, with a rapidly thrown together group meeting used to demonstrate the integration of the conferencing service with the new RoundTable conference room webcam. Apparently the demo also showed the potential pitfalls of using video in a live business context, as the presenter had to sheepishly grin while quickly cutting off the video feed after the prepared scripted scenario was over. We couldn't see what was happening on the webcast, but from his reaction and the audience's laughter, I would guess that the actors in the conference room didn't realize the camera feed was still on and "broke character" after their segment. Let this be a warning to you... Always treat a camera as if it is on and recording.
I'm not going to fight the choice of emphasis by Microsoft in their overall pitch. Most of their UC products are perfectly suited for the kind of one-on-one communications they presented. But I can't help thinking that they are diminishing the power and value of Live Meeting by presenting it as an alternative to an ad-hoc conference call. There are now so many collaborative conferencing products on the market at low-cost or no-cost prices that Microsoft is going to have a hard time building a value justification for their solution with that positioning.
For me, Live Meeting gets its value from being one of the smaller set of conferencing products that are designed to serve the needs of large, structured events produced by high end enterprise customers. It should compete squarely against WebEx Event Center, Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional, Raindance Seminar Edition, and the like. If Live Meeting backs itself into competing against Yugma, Persony, and other quick 'n cheap solutions, it is doomed.
A full-featured webinar event solution includes features for registration, attendee management, reporting, automated invitations and reminders, viewer customization, feedback controls, integrated recording, audio options, polling and surveys, and more. It is useful for lead generation, public demonstrations, training, and outbound communications. Live Meeting is up to the challenge. I hope Microsoft realizes the strength and differentiation factors that matter for a standalone webinar product and hit the right notes when Live Meeting 2007 hits the street. Because if they continue to promote it the way I saw in the Unified Communications overview, they should strip it down and give it away for free with the purchase of the other items in the suite.
