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Show HN: Fed up with WebEx, so we built a way to screen share in under 20 sec.

402 pointsby ttruongover 13 years ago

59 comments

huhtenbergover 13 years ago
Nicely done, but there are few issues from the top of my head.<p>1. Security - this should really be going over SSL. In fact, the whole site needs to be SSL'd.<p>2. P2P - I bet you are not P2P, and you won't be able to be P2P if you keep the viewer in the confines of the browser. However, the client-to-client traffic really needs to go peer to peer. It's an absolute must. This is what keeps the cost of running the service low and this is what allowed LogMeIn to grow like a fire and eat Citrix lunch. You keep pushing all data through yourselves, your bandwidth usage and infrastructure upgrade bills will likely to kill you. Scaling a server-relayed service is a bitch of an issue, don't underestimate it.<p>3. Java dependency for sharing - you'd be surprised how many locked-down corporate setups have no Java (not that they are your target audience). I personally don't have Java installed either (and again, I am probably not your target user either). A fallback to Flash would make a lot of sense. Also the screen <i>sharing</i> on iPhone/Pad/etc would require a native app, which effectively means that you are on your way to replicate join.me.<p>4. Patents - I'm sure the easiest way to knock you down is through a patent litigation. Be mindful here. Try and build a bit of a defensive portfolio if you can.<p>All in all, good luck. You are entering a crowded market littered with failed startups... and interesting acquisitions ;)
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ChrisNorstromover 13 years ago
Please ditch the generic stock photo of a lady on a broken laptop on the beach. It makes your site look like a cheap travel agency.<p>Go for a home computer setting or even an office setting.<p>Like one of these or something.<p><a href="http://us.fotolia.com/id/28015494" rel="nofollow">http://us.fotolia.com/id/28015494</a><p><a href="http://us.fotolia.com/id/35919645" rel="nofollow">http://us.fotolia.com/id/35919645</a><p><a href="http://us.fotolia.com/id/27612067" rel="nofollow">http://us.fotolia.com/id/27612067</a>
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joshaidanover 13 years ago
Just to give you some feedback. The biggest issue I have with the site is that I'm not sure if I can trust you.<p>How do I know my privacy is protected?<p>How do I know you're not a phising company trying to steal personal data by spying on screen sharing sessions?<p>Those are some of the questions I ask myself. And it's also the first impression I get when I look at the site. Also, I don't see a phone number anywhere on the site I can call to speak to somebody, or to even verify that you're a real company. There's also no real explanation of how the technology works, and how the tech could protect my privacy--if it in fact does.<p>I'm not trying to be harsh, just giving you my honest opinion. You have to find some way to make me trust you, if you want me to use your product.
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samstaveover 13 years ago
Join.me has been my goto replacement for webex.<p>This operates exactly like join.me - however I like join.me's shorter URLs - I would suggest copying a format similar to theirs.<p>However I really like the "share whats in the rectangle" feature.
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chopsover 13 years ago
Three thoughts:<p>1) Can I safely assume you're working on a way to share desktop control, for things like tech support? Seems like the next <i>semi-major</i> logical step.<p>2) Out of curiosity, how do you plan to monetize this beast? Freemium, with a more feature-rich paid version (voip, desktop control, etc)? Or...something else?<p>3) Very cool. Great job guys!
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alexholehouseover 13 years ago
One privacy enhancement which would be nice would be to see a list of IPs viewing the screen. Not sure how easy it would be to implement, but would give me total peace of mind to know only 1 IP is viewing (if that's what I'm expecting).<p>Stellar job though - no barrier to use whatsoever.
aresantover 13 years ago
Beautiful product, dead simple and I'd use this over Join.me which I see as your closest competition for quick screen sharing.<p>GOOG &#38; Skype are also getting a lot faster on their feet in this space.<p>I'm intimately familiar with this landscape as we're preparing to launch our FREE webinar platform, <a href="http://www.MeetingBurner.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.MeetingBurner.com</a>, in the very near future after ~1yr in beta.<p>Our target is the "webinar" space which includes all the trimmings like registrations, invitations, bundled conference lines / skype / telephony, analytics, pay walls, etc.<p>But we have a solid contingent of users that just want screen sharing 90% of the time and I love your focus on "2 clicks to start a meeting" etc.<p>Elegant solution and good luck.
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antimoraover 13 years ago
There is a Chrome extension by Google that allows quickly share screens without needing to install Java.<p>It works on Linux as well.<p>Here is a link to the extension <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhk...</a>
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dansoover 13 years ago
So I had more than 110 viewers at one point, and also screenleaped into someone else who was screeleaping my screenleap: <a href="http://yfrog.com/z/oe15628524p" rel="nofollow">http://yfrog.com/z/oe15628524p</a><p>The product was effortlessly easy to run. Obviously there was a usage overload but otherwise, people were able to watch me Tweet and screenleap into other people's screenleaps in real time (and also watch me scroll through cat gifs). Extremely well done, bravo!
brd529over 13 years ago
I wouldn't use this over join.me because of the compression artifacts. I use join.me to lead webinars and a professional appearance is critical.<p>However, I am glad to see another competitor in the space. The killer feature, IMHO, would be adding a VoIP / Telephone bridge so people could get audio either way. Webex and Gotomeeting do this, but they are clunky in other areas.
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samlevover 13 years ago
Cool, but I couldn't close the java 'ScreenLeap' dialog without using chrome's task manager to kill the java plugin.<p>(I'm running Ubuntu 11.10, and chrome 16.0 if that helps)<p>Also, I feel "No downloads, installs" is a little disingenuous - just because it's not installed as a full-time application doesn't mean that it's not downloaded or installed.
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almostover 13 years ago
Wow, that's really slick! Any plans to license the software for use in other products? It would make a great addition to some help desk software...
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lobster45over 13 years ago
Looks interesting, but I do not run java on my machines so this wont work for me.
prophetjohnover 13 years ago
This looks nice. Is there any way to switch who is sharing their screen among participants? We have weekly meetings for product demos and WebEx allows us to trade of who is the presenter.
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jczhangover 13 years ago
Two things: 1. It was odd that you can't resize using the top and left borders. 2. I'm using 2 monitors (laptop + monitor) and I can't move the rectangle to the secondary monitory.
snampallover 13 years ago
I have been using <a href="https://join.me/" rel="nofollow">https://join.me/</a> and pretty happy with it.<p>How is this different from <a href="https://join.me/" rel="nofollow">https://join.me/</a>?
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dxbydtover 13 years ago
Just tested this. Ok so it works. Very cool! Now chances of someone correctly guessing a permutation of three 3-digit numbers are 1 in 901^3 = 732 million, but still, is that the only form of security ? I can call someone over the phone &#38; give them my screen key ie. 3 3-digit numbers. Someone else can overhear that &#38; also go to screenleap and enter those 3 numbers &#38; suddenly my screen isn't private anymore...
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nodataover 13 years ago
Nice - but I can't stop sharing my screen. Even if I click "Stop sharing screen", even if I <i>try</i> to close the popup window with that button in it.
matdwyerover 13 years ago
I need these to be dead simple as I use them to help walk my Mom through simple tasks on the PC from 2000 miles away.<p>Thank you for helping keep the hair on my head
manuscreationisover 13 years ago
Just wanted to add, I just used this to show some work to a friend, and it worked really well. Had it up and running quickly, he joined easily, was able to see everything I did.<p>Only gripe, the window re-sizing wasn't working properly. Once I re-sized it once (width-wise), it didn't let me re-size it any more, only move it around.<p>Otherwise, very easy to use product
xm1994over 13 years ago
If I hadn't found <a href="http://join.me" rel="nofollow">http://join.me</a> a few months ago I'd be jumping up and down right now. This is just as effortless, great job there. I'd suggest making the two options: share a screen, and join a session stand out even more from the rest of the homepage.
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epsover 13 years ago
Ah, the joy of product marketing.<p>The VIEWING is from any device, but SHARING is not.<p>Ability to view on iPad in the browser <i>is</i> a step up from join.me, but it appears to be the only major difference. Am I missing something? I am a long time LogMeIn user, so I am probably right smack in the middle of your target audience.
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sachleenover 13 years ago
Just tried it. Works pretty well. I especially like the share rectangle region feature.<p>I have been using <a href="https://join.me/" rel="nofollow">https://join.me/</a> since it allows me to control the other person's screen as well. The setup is just as simple but it requires you to run a downloaded file.
onwardlyover 13 years ago
Its like the Stripe for screensharing , I love it.<p>As for monetization, I think a good strategy might be something like the first 3 are free, and then you pay $5 for 30 screenshares afterwards. Atleast for me, I'd be willing to pay that and it seems like a straightforward/fair way to price it.<p>Good luck!
joshuarrrrover 13 years ago
My boss works in a different city, and we're on the phone all the time. The simplicity of this is priceless. I especially appreciate that the viewing side requires no setup. That makes it much preferable to WebEx or Skype when I'm dealing with less tech-savvy folks.
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cantlinover 13 years ago
Great product. Am I alone in thinking the design could use a refresh? Is this in the works? A really distinctive visual identity is what would turn this from "cool thing I saw on HN" to a solution that I'll remember long enough to reach for it next chance I get.
arjnover 13 years ago
I'd like to check it out but it asks me to download java which I already have. However the java plugin does not show up in FF for me. Any idea how to enable it and could you include those instructions too ? Thanks.
missing_cipherover 13 years ago
I love this. How feasible would a Chrome/Firefox extension be? An icon by the URL to start a share without going to another URL would be amazing(and something no one else does as far as I know).<p>Great product. Best of luck! :)
sim0nover 13 years ago
Best/easiest screen-sharing implementation I've seen so far, great work!
wesbosover 13 years ago
Awesome job. Screenr.com uses the same java method to record my screen and it _never_ works, this was up and running in lessss than 20 seconds. Would love to see a recording featured added.
Mcole1987over 13 years ago
That is such a great app! I love how simple it is to share the link and there's no need to download anything.<p>Are there any plans to share the screen of an android phone? I think that would be pretty fun.
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pygorexover 13 years ago
Two questions:<p>1. Right now my screen share app of choice is TeamViewer. You could own this space if screen control was added, very easy to setup and use.<p>2. Monetization strategy? Are you looking to monetize this app?
skystormover 13 years ago
Very nice, worked flawlessly when I just tested it with a friend (other than having to kill the java process by hand in the end). Thanks in particular for supporting Linux!
joshbaptisteover 13 years ago
Great product.. This disrupts all of the clunky screen sharing products I have used in my tech life. Dare I be bold and state this may be the Dropbox of screen sharing.
emehrkayover 13 years ago
Doesnt seem to work on my Lion with the latest Java installed
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sandropadinover 13 years ago
This is a great idea and very well implemented. I too would like to see an API of sorts. Maybe a white-label screen sharing service. Good luck!
webwanderingsover 13 years ago
TeamViewer (free) is not bad but it times out after some time and you have to relaunch the meeting with a new code. Will give this one a try.
keturnover 13 years ago
Nice! I just shared a screen from a Linux laptop to a phone with the Dolphin browser and it Just Worked. Pretty high latency though.
manuscreationisover 13 years ago
Mind sharing what your particular frustrations with WebEx are? (Not that I'm defending the product, just curious)
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tommiover 13 years ago
Does it allow me to only share a specific applications? I don't want to show everybody my email and other stuff.
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macspoofingover 13 years ago
Great job guys. I love the simplicity.<p>How are you guys streaming the images down? Any interesting technologies or methods used?
deltaqueueover 13 years ago
Any chance at offering this through SSL in the future? Or does the transmission already go through SSL?
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grannyg00seover 13 years ago
Is it typical for tablet and smartphone browsers to have a java run time environment? Mine does not.
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kvinnakoover 13 years ago
This is a very usefull website with great potential. And nice and clean interface. Good work.
sktrdieover 13 years ago
"No installs" - first thing it asks me to do is to install a Java plugin. No thanks.
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rabidsnailover 13 years ago
It's not safe to assume that everyone has the java plugin installed anymore.
sociover 13 years ago
Looks promising. I'll be using it in a meeting I have right now. Thanks.
robbrown451over 13 years ago
You built that in less than 20 seconds?!!! Damn, you guys are good.
lincolnqover 13 years ago
Wow, this is effortless and works well, just like Dropbox. Nice job.
thekevanover 13 years ago
I was able to view my PC screen on my Droid 3 stock browser.
zyadover 13 years ago
Great Product ! What about the API ? And Screen recording ?
fadyover 13 years ago
wow. i was curious if this would work on my networked machine and it did. boom! that was pretty quick. a+ guys
wingspanover 13 years ago
Awesome, works on Windows Phone.
kvinnakoover 13 years ago
this is a very usefull website with a fantastic opportunity to become big...
joshcrowderover 13 years ago
Great Job!<p>Do you have an API?<p>I just dropped you an email :)
denysoniqueover 13 years ago
Thank You
jdelsmanover 13 years ago
Awesome product!
Craiggybearover 13 years ago
Scary!<p>Works well, and yes, effortless. Impressive.
mihaelaover 13 years ago
It requires Java. Enough said.