Free Alternatives To Popular PC Collaboration Services

When you work in the Information Technology field, there are often times when you need to get someone's input on a project, access documents you left at home or help someone out with a computer issue. Being in these situations without the right tools can be a very frustrating experience. In this post, I'm going to discuss some free utilities that can help you solve these problems in a very quick and efficient manner.



DimDim (Alternative to GotoMeeting, WebEx) - Update: DimDim was acquired by Salesforce.com on January 6, 2011 and will be shutting down their free service very soon. They will not be accepting any new registrations.

Old Description: DimDim is a great tool when you are doing work for or collaborating with other people. DimDim allows you to share your computer screen, documents, web pages and whiteboards in a very slick meeting environment. It also gives you a phone number that all meeting attendees can call to communicate with each other. I have used DimDim on several occasions and have always been impressed with their service.

Join.Me Free (Alternative to GotoMeeting, WebEx) - After the demise of DimDim, the search began for another free service that would provide the same screen sharing and collaborating tools. Join.Me Free provides users with an unlimited number of meetings with up to 250 participants per meeting. Features include the ability to chat with participants, talk with participants via a system-generated conference call number, transfer files and allow participants to control your computer. While I haven't had an opportunity to try it myself, many people that I have talked to have been impressed with their service.

LogMeIn (Alternative to GoToMyPC) - LogMeIn is a service that allows you to view a computer from anywhere you have an internet connection. This is handy if you are working away from home and need something off of your desktop computer. The setup process is easy and the service is good. I am currently running LogMeIn on my Mac as well as some computer that I tend to work on a lot. Very handy!

Zoho Assist (Alternative to GoToAssist) - While LogMeIn works well, it's not very practical for times when you are trying to help someone quickly troubleshoot problems over the phone. Zoho Assist allows you to tell someone a web address and session number to quickly gain access to their computer to fix the problem. While the free service only allows for 5 sessions a month with each session being a maximum of 2 hours, I find that more than enough for my particular needs.

TeamViewer (Alternative to GoToAssist) - TeamViewer is very similar to Zoho Assist except that it does not have the same usage limitations. One limitation that TeamViewer does have is that it is only free for non-commercial use. TeamViewer also has a free iPhone/iPod Touch app available on the iTunes App Store. While I have not personally used TeamViewer, I have heard only good experiences from those who have.

Well hopefully these tools will help you meet your collaboration needs in the future. If you have any other free services you would like to recommend along this same topic please leave them in the comments sections below.