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Although NetMeeting 3.01, the most recent version available when we tested in July 1999, can be downloaded free of charge from Microsoft, it is important not to install it on existing endpoint systems without checking with the manufacturer. Intel, for example, still depends on NetMeeting 2.11 to interface correctly with the ProShare 500 5.1. Mysterious calibration errors can occur if an older NetMeeting 2.1 is on the PS 500's host PC. A ProShare software release newer than 5.1 will be needed to accommodate NetMeeting 3.0. However, we demonstrated that once a multipoint conference is set up successfully, endpoints using NetMeeting 2.1, 2.11 and 3.01 can share applications, chat and exchange whiteboards.

A growing trend is to set up NetMeeting-only PCs to serve as H.323 endpoints. You can use a modest (200-MHz non-MMX) Pentium with built-in sound, add a video frame grabber or processing card from Osprey, Array Microsystems or MaxPC, a camera appropriate to the video card's performance, NetMeeting 3.01, and voila!--you've got a cost-effective videoconferencing PC. Well, almost.

Although NetMeeting can accept calls from up to six other parties and manage a multipoint chat or whiteboard collaboration session, it is no substitute for an industrial-strength MCU system. Audio and video can be exchanged between only two of the parties, and there's no way for a conference moderator to manage participation.

When operating as an endpoint, NetMeeting 3.01 standalone is a somewhat flaky multipoint conference participant. The good news is that NetMeeting 3.01 understands H.323 RAS and will register successfully with a designated gatekeeper. (Previous versions would not.) The bad news is that it does not honor bandwidth-control requests from gatekeepers or MCUs. Also, to force NetMeeting 3.01 to use G.723 audio and H.263 QCIF video codec algorithms, you have to trick it by checking its "operating on a 28.8 or higher modem" control. Tell it that it is operating on a LAN, and NetMeeting 3.01 usually attempts to put up G.711 audio and H.261 CIF video, no matter what the MCU offers in its capabilities exchange.