Vyew – Deserving of Webware’s Top 100

Vyew, one of the Webware Top 100 finalists will be releasing version 2.5 on Monday. This browser based collaborative – conferencing platform enables users to share and create in real time. Version 2.5 will further enable users to create Vyewbooks to share, present, and interact with a wide range of content from MS Office documents to images, video and more. With the release of this version Vyew becomes more business ready and portable as well.

Vyew currently has over 25,000 active users and provides both an ad supported free version or subscription versions for heavier business applications. Vyew is an innovation of Sumulat, Inc., a Berkley, California start up that develops powerful web-based applications. The company was founded by a team of UC-Berkeley graduates with a vision to merge virtual space with human interaction. The company is headed by CEO Henry Hon, CSA Tim Hon, and VP Scott James.

Vyew utilizes the browser and requires no client based software which really identifies a true online application in my opinion. VyewBooks are the key to this application and are essentially books of pages created by users and bound together for navigation and collective viewing. Live sessions with multiple collaborators flow simply by selecting and opening desired content via these books and pages.

Vyew essentially works like a very flexible PowerPoint presentation produced in real time under collaborative hands. Insertion, deletion, cutting and pasting along with a multitude of other tasks can be carried out simultaneously and with fantastic flexibility. Another aspect I really like about this application is persistent saving; this is where all content uploaded or created is automatically saved in real time so I never have to lose work again! Another great feature is the always on aspect, where users can access sessions any time and collectively work on projects in an ongoing fashion.

Tools Galore

I am seldom daunted by the shear weight of tools that a startup or application has, but Vyew is pushing me here. Describing all this function is a little bit like paraphrasing an Adobe manual. Here is a short list of some of the tools available to Vyew users.

Broad File Support - Most common file support for PPT, DOC, XLS, PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, SWF, TXT, RTF, MP3, FLV and more.

Real-Time Desktop Sharing – The service streams what is showing on your desktop.

Screen Captures – Insert a screen capture of what is showing in any open application.

White Boarding and Drawing - Complex whiteboard with annotation of VyewBook pages and drawing/manipulation tools. Multiple users engage and interact in real time.

Embedded Comments - Comments can be embedded anywhere within the VyewBook.

Sharing Pointers – Pointers for drawing attention to specific areas all collaboratively.

Text Chat – Automatically saved built in that can be saved as a text file or deleted.

Free Teleconferencing – Conference calling enables multi-way teleconferencing.

Plug-ins - Examples are Audio and Video players, DiagramVyew, and Yahoo Maps.

There is also another list of user tools that is simply too long to mention. The highlights of that list include: My Home and My File Dashboards, permission settings, emailed invitations, Multi-Lingual support, change notification and synch and unsynch page navigation. 

Version 2.5

The latest version due to be released today has all the function mentioned (some of those were part of this release) and a special Vyewlet generator that allows users to embed "read only" versions of their VyewBooks to blogs and other sites. Changes to presentations can be updated via an RSS-like function that changes the remote presentation from the Vyew UI. This version also allows for unlimited sessions and with overflow participants where extra real time participants can join live conferences. Version 2.5 users can also set up custom room ID's where easy to remember unique URL extensions can be added.

The Difference

Vyew takes advantage of the online software market by establishing a unique relationship between people and content. Unlike other excellent service like WebEx and GoToMeeting, which are information communications platforms using a person to people format, Vyew is a social computing platform for sharing, creativity and participation in a many-to-many format.

The only negative aspect I found during my mini-test was that the service has so many functions it was difficult to learn or apply them all. People who use this tool will easily overcome my shortcomings but I must say the UI and vast tool chest are daunting to say the least. As you can tell by this rather lengthy review, Vyew has a very deep and complex set of utilities to describe. Quite honestly I have not covered half the possibility of this online monster of a service. What is amazing to me is that the developers are promising even more tools to come. I can't wait to test this service out with a few associates as the many-to-many differentiation between Vyew and others should really come through here.

Fig. 1.1 In this screen I simply loaded an MS Word Doc and added a few elements like the highlighter, textpad, sticky, video player and used some pointers etc. Check out many more detailed shots here.