Mikogo – remote access and presentation service

Some time ago I was contacted by Andrew Donnelly of BeamYourScreen company with suggestion to review their free remote access service Mikogo.

Remote access stuff usually either cumbersome VNC setup or quite restricted online services so I am always eager to check out new solutions.

What it does

Mikogo provides small software server for setting up the meeting (sharing your desktop or specific windows for remote access) and software client for easy access to meetings in progress.

Hosting meeting requires signing up for account while to join you only need to input meeting ID.

Features

For a free remote access service Mikogo is very feature rich:

• commercial use is allowed;
• meeting scheduler;
• file transfer between participants;
• cross-platform with Win and Mac supports plus Skype plugin;
• recording of meetings;
• encryption (256 bit AES).

Needs and wants

I hadn’t used service extensively but made few test presentations to poke it properly.

• I mostly use remote access for troubleshooting Mikogo turned out to be little unfit for that. It is streamlined to host so I needed to create meeting first, wait for friend to connect and then switch role of presenter to her.
• Alternative would be other side hosting since start but that would require setting up server (instead of using much simpler client connection) and registering account. Actually I don’t see much need for an account at all, it seems like unnecessary step in scheme.
• I had also tried Skype plugin but it hadn’t worked for me at all, quite possible problem on my end – waiting for follow-up on my feedback about that.

Overall

Feature-rich, free and streamlined service with portable client/server software. However it was designed for presentation purposes which makes it little hard to use for troubleshooting.

Link http://www.mikogo.com/