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Reality Fusion and TeamView seem to have disappeared -- at least I can't find them and their website is not longer active. ( October 6,2003).

It seems that the product ( and the company?) are now owned by Santa Cruz Networks.

What is TeamView?

TeamView is a video conferencing and collaboration service provided by Reality Fusion. The service is provided via a proprietary client (using proprietary protocols) that includes an integrated instant message/presence program, a video conferencing client that can display up to incoming video feeds in a continuous presence mode and collaboration tools like application sharing ( not as full featured as NetMeeting's application sharing as it has a view only mode) and text chat functions.

How well does it work?

In the limited testing I have done Team View works very well -- it installed easily on my XP Pro system, detected my camera, sound card and functioned flawlessly first time through my Linksys router.

It seems to have all the mechanisms required to be used through NATs -- and since it is server based can allow two or more users behind different firewalls to connect in a single call.  This is a positive development considering all the problems H.323/NetMeeting has working through NATs.

It has built in application sharing, continuous presence for up to 6 parties ( from a call that can apparently support up to 250 participants), with the user choosing the number and which parties to display. It does server based mixing of the audio channel (apparently it mixes 3 audio inputs - I am not sure how it chooses the audio to mix or how this works in practice with multiple parties speaking). There is a flexible integrated chat feature for text chats between parties in the call.

Call initiation is via instant messaging or a number of prearranged meeting mechanisms.

Is this a viable alternative to NetMeeting?

From a functional point of view this program/service seems more than a match for NetMeeting in quality and functionality especially for multiparty conferences and for conferences between two parties that are behind firewalls or routers.

So far TeamView is offered as a service only - the server cannot be purchased and installed locally. Reality Fusion does offer corporate pricing and tools to manage bandwidth.

The business model for TeamView is a user pay model. The cost is somewhere between 10-45 cents per connected user per minute. Though somewhat of a negative for NetMeeting users that enjoy a no pay model -- the product and functionality is well worth paying for. The day of the "free" internet is long since past -- I personally welcome a product that has a well thought out business model that might give it some legs.