Hello
Does anybody knows any good (and free?) video call plugin?
Thanks!
Hi Jaime,
The future of person to person and group web video communication is the new HTML5 protocol WebRTC. No plugins and no media servers are necessary, and it works with any HTML5 compliant browser. However, I don't think it works with Internet Explorer yet.
There's a Moodle plugin which is in beta but works well enough for easy, ad-hoc WebRTC communication between multiple users: https://moodle.org/plugins/view/mod_webrtcexperiments
There used to be a Skype module but AFAIK, it's no longer supported or being developed. All the other web conferencing modules require paid 3rd party services.
If you don't want to use a plugin, here's a way to simply set up a WebRTC instance on any web page that allows iframes: http://blog.matbury.com/2014/09/02/instant-simple-video-conferencing-free/
I hope this helps!
If your users agreed to use Firefox, then you can use the 'Firefox Hello'.
Click the small smiling face icon at the top-right corner, then everything is right to go:
Hello!
Join me for a video conversation using Firefox Hello:
You don't have to download or install anything. Just copy and paste this URL into your browser:
Hi William,
From what I understand, Firefox Hello is just WebRTC by another name. Also, when I click on the button, I get a "Powered by Telefonica" logo, a commercial service provider in Spain with a dubious reputation, and links to a ToS page and privacy page.
On the ToS page, there's a further reference to another commercial service provider TokBox.
WebRTC doesn't have to be so complicated. All it needs is a simple daemon (software script that's permanently running in the background) on your or another server to connect users to each other. Users' web browsers do the rest; that's why it's call peer to peer.
WebRTC is a direct threat to telecoms and web conferencing service providers. I reckon they'll try everything they can to co-opt and/or restrict it to protect their market shares and profit margins.