Glance Review

Rating: 4 WaterTowers

In previous blog entries I have reviewed full-featured web conferencing applications. Initially, I had classified Glance in that class. What I found out is that Glance is different.

Glance is “easy-to-use screen sharing tool”. Pure and simple. It does not support: VoIP, audio conferencing bridge, or videoconferencing integration. It does not support scheduling, email, or many of the features I listed as needed in a modern fully-featured web conferencing application.

YeOldeTechy says: By paring down the focus the team at Glance has developed a lean mean collaboration application that does one thing…..and does it well. Glance is a high quality application that is super easy-to-use, reliable, and responsive.

Example of how YeOldeTechy expects to use Glance

In two years, my daughter will be at College (University of Kansas, I hope). Every now and then she may need help with a Math problem. We connect via ooVoo and then one of us fires up Glance to share our desktops. We see each other, hear each other, and we can collaboratively work thru a Math problem almost as if we were in the same room (this is what we envisioned for “Personal Telepresence” so many years ago)……a complete voice, video, and data collaboration experience.

Starting a Glance Session
Using Glance is a breeze. Fire it up, tell the remote people the Session ID, and get to work. That’s it.
To start Glance simply double click on the “G” in the Windows system tray (I don’t know where the Mac “G” would be) or the shortcut “G” on your desktop. You get this:


You can email the session key to your participants, or you can grab a copy of it and IM the session key to your participants, or you can just tell them.

They can then use their browser to go to your Glance web page (yeoldetechy.glance.net) and enter the Session ID and click on “Join Session”.

A few seconds later the browser completes its connection sequence and you are placed in the meeting.

NOTE: One interesting feature offered by Glance is the ability to add a Glance “button” on a web site or blog. I grabbed the code and embedded this button on this blog (see picture below). With this feature, my remote participants, instead of going to the yeoldetechy.glance.net web site, can visit this Blog to join the session. Verrrry cool.

That’s all it takes to start a session.

Below are some screen shots from an active session (taken by the remote participant).

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As you can see, virtually any application can be shared or worked on collaboratively (the host simply allows remote control). If you are showing a slide presentation, Glance works very hard to catch the animation. The quality is extremely good. One possible use not mentioned on the Glance web site is remote troubleshooting or assistance. I can see and control a remote computer. NOTE: Before you allow remote control, make sure you can trust the person who has control!

Possible bug? When in remote control my left-hand mouse becomes a right hand mouse. I would prefer to keep my mouse operating in left hand mode.

To end a session all you need to do is click on the end session option in the “G”.

Features

  1. Live screen sharing to up to 100 remote participants
  2. Instant meetings, no scheduling needed
  3. Remote control of your application or computer
  4. Automatic resizing of the screens (participants see your whole screen)
  5. Personalized URL’s
  6. Web site, or Blog, integration
  7. Account management via the web
  8. Windows and Mac’s can host a session
  9. IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari and more browsers are supported.
Cost

Individual: $49.95 per month
Corporate: $249.00 per month

Check with the Glance web site for more costing details.


Summary

If you need to give a presentation to up to 100 remote users, or if you just want to work on homework with a student or child, Glance is perfect. It is quick and easy and the quality is great.

You can use it with desktop videoconferencing applications such as PolyCom PVX, ooVoo, or Mirial Softphone. Just make sure you minimize the video window or Glance will be trying to refresh the video all the time and performance will suffer. Of course, using a telephone to connect to your remote participants also works as does a separate videoconferencing connection.

Here is a demo from Glance:

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