[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Anyone try out Jitsi Meet yet? Free, open source meeting software like Zoom.

Sun Feb 5 06:46:16 PST 2023

 Late to this discussion, but if most of us live in MA, and for anyone who has the afternoon of the First Thursday of the month free, Natick FOSS is a fully committed group of open source users, and we use Linux (mostly Ubuntu or Fedora) as our base OS.
We have been holding remote meetings since the pandemic hit. We looked at several open source alternatives and settled on Jitsi Meet. It has zero installation, and you do not need an app or a download to get it up and running. Linux configuration of the browser and the Jitsi setup is sometimes pretty technical. I don't know whether setup is easier under Windows, but I suspect it is, especially for sound. 
The stability of the video and sound connections, as well as screen sharing is not guaranteed. Unlike Zoom, Jitsi relies on the quality of each user's Internet connection and hardware capabilities, which can be very poor for some users at times, especially those running Linux on older hardware and having older networking and Internet hardware. Some Cable services also get into bandwidth issues at some times of the day, which further degrades Jitsi meeting quality. 
Jitsi works well for groups of up to about ten people, depending on each user's available resources. Screen sharing is more limited and less polished than Zoom. There are fewer Host meeting controls. I haven't seen captioning in the standard Jitsi setup. Sharing video works, but it is not as smooth an experience as Zoom. When the OS or web browser is updated, sometimes these updates wreak havoc with Jitsi. Other times browser upgrades actually help the quality and stability of Jitsi. 
There is more information on how Natick FOSS uses Jitsi at the Natick FOSS web site, and there are links there to additonal materials:
https://millermicro.com/FOSSUserGroupArchive.html

http://runeman.org/articles/natick-foss/jitsi/jitsi-2022-09-05.pdf 

The Natick FOSS user group is hosted by Dick and Jill Miller of Miller Micro in Natick, MA. Algot Runeman is a good resource person for Jitsi, as are other members of our group. 
For such a large group as LCTG, I would suggest continuing with Zoom. It works better for larger groups. And Jitsi would be a nightmare for hybrid meetings. 
-- Bob Primak

    On Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 10:45:07 PM EST, Drew King <dking65 at kingconsulting.us> wrote:  

George,

How long has it been? If you haven't looked at it in years, it has likely changed for the better! It is not zoom, although it has quite a few features that are similar.

There is no installer file for Windows or Mac to host or join a meeting. It works in a browser tab. You can create a meeting link for the host and a different one for guests, or you can simply create your own personalized meeting link. Not having an installation program is going to create limitations all by itself with regard to the quality of the video, which was very evident. It's not for professional organizations and would not be good for this user group either. However, if you want to have a large family video gathering or a whole group of friends that you haven't seen each other in a while, it's definitely worth a looksee.

Obviously you have no need for it now but for those of you who do not have a zoom subscription currently no harm in giving it a try and see if it meets your needs.

I tried it for the first time this afternoon and had a 3-way meeting running in just a few minutes.

I'm simply throwing it out there as a viable option for those who do not wish to pay for an ongoing subscription to zoom. And, perhaps, have a peripheral need to have a meeting that will likely go more than the limited 40 minutes. I only did a 6-minute video call, so I'm not proof that the software works for an hour or more.

Drew

 On 2/4/2023 10:26 PM, George Gamota wrote:

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I also tried it after Harry suggested it. The trouble is that ZOOM is on top, as Harry says, and people all know about it, whereas I tried Jitsi, and it required instructions before I could get it going with colleagues. I gave up due to the extra work and purchased the professional ZOOM for $59/year. I also purchased Office 365. I guess I am just lazy and looking for an easy way out LOL

George

From: LCTG <lctg-bounces+ggamota=stma-llc.com at lists.toku.us> On Behalf Of Harry Forsdick
 Sent: Saturday, February 4, 2023 6:33 PM
 To: dking65 at kingconsulting.us
 Cc: Lex Computer Group <lctg at lists.toku.us>
 Subject: Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Anyone try out Jitsi Meet yet? Free, open source meeting software like Zoom.

Drew,

Before Zoom ascended to the top of the heap, I was using Jitsi because it was so simple to use.  I still think it is impressive, but I'm afraid Zoom has won the hearts and minds of the world because of their clever offering of their system to the world for free in a time of need -- perhaps that's better marketing.  

I suspect Jitsi might be easier to integrate into larger, commonly used systems in use.  For example, I like a conferencing system that could be integrated into web-based applications as easily as HTML/CSS/JS embeds can be done.  Can't figure out how to get Zoom to work in this style, haven't tried it with Jitsi because if it isn't Zoom most people will shy away from it.

-- Harry

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On Sat, Feb 4, 2023 at 4:59 PM Drew King <dking65 at kingconsulting.us> wrote:

All,

Curious if anyone has tried and has any positive or negative feedback about the free open source meeting program called Jitsi?

It functions a lot like Zoom, only there are no time constraints or costs. 

I think it grew from the Linux community. 

There is a native app installer for Linux and also for the iPhone and Android phones. On Windows it does not require an installer, but it does work, and I presume it does the same on a macOS computer.

https://jitsi.org/

To start a meeting, go to https://meet.jit.si/ or go to https://jitsi.org/ and click on See it in action, Start Meeting button.

https://meet.jit.si/ThisIsMyMeeting

-- 
 Drew King 

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