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I can find no evidence that  focusfocus still exists -- this page is no longer being maintained(April 30,2003).

What is Focusfocus?

Focusfocus is a new service/product being offered at the Focusfocus website.

It consists of an PC client that you download and a directory service from their website allowing individuals to make person to person video phone calls. It also supports a limited ( but much better than NetMeeting) multiparty call feature. There is also a desktop component with more features than the basic client.

In addition ( and this seems an interesting and key part of their business model) they are offering website owners individual rooms that can be set up with individual website ( more expensive) or shared ( less expensive) branding. All use of the client requires website access ( though as far as I can tell the communications are all individual to individual so no server components need be installed -  other than some html on the website) and the model is scaleable as no heavy communication traffic is generated that goes through Focusfocus.

How well does it work?

In the tests I performed in one to one communications audio and video were very good ( at least as good as NetMeeting but that is a subjective opinion), calls were easy to establish -- I called from behind a NAT router with no extra setup required in my client or at the router. I don't know about calls coming in -- I didn't get a chance to test that. It was relatively easy to have more than one call in progress at the same time giving a multiparty call function -- I could see two parties in continuous presence -- audio communication though required you to switch from one party to another -- I don't know what the other parties saw though -- I suspect that the logistics ( and the bandwidth strain -- since this is essentially unicasting) of having multi parties all connected all with each other may be a bit much.

Is this a viable alternative to NetMeeting?

For casual video phone calls I think Focusfocus is better than NetMeeting for a number of reasons:

1) the basic download is much smaller and easier to install
2) making calls via a website is much easier for most people to understand and use.
3) website operators have a viable way to establish video calling functionality for their communities
4) users have a viable ( though rudimentary) multiparty alternative that only comes in NetMeeting with use of an MCU.
5) it seems to operate easily from behind NAT routers

For other than casual users Focusfocus has a number of shortcomings:

1) it has a proprietary communications protocol and cannot interoperate easily with any other products
2) its data communications handling is basic -- the chat function is less usable than that in NetMeeting and there is no whiteboard, file transfer or data sharing feature
3) its unicast transfer model makes bandwidth need skyrocket as individuals are added to the call.

In short I think focusfocus is well worth a look. Try it out at their website.