rsratheesh...
Certainly there are companies using MS NetMeeting in the
process of teaching their courses. Two obvious examples
are the elearners.com course titled:
"Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0: NetMeeting Internet
Collaboration Tool"
http://www.elearners.com/course/29303.htm
...and the emagister.com course titled:
"NetMeeting 3.0 Internet Conferencing"
http://www.emagister.net/netmeeting-3-0-internet-conferencing-courses-954023.htm
These courses teach students how to use NetMeeting for
internet collaboration, and certainly engage students
in the actual use of the program with the teachers in
the process of teaching the course.
UniversalClass.com is another company which solicits and
organizes experts to become instructors under their auspices,
and to use NetMeeting for live contact with students:
"Help Learners Face to Face -- through our live chat, or
use whatever live conferencing software you want (for
example Microsoft(tm) NetMeeting)"
http://home.universalclass.com/myinterests/teachonline.htm
Such use is not illegal. NetMeeting comes packaged free
with the operating system (OS) software with which it was
purchased, and the End User License Agreement (EULA) for
the OS covers its use as a part of the OS, as in this
section from the Windows XP EULA:
"NetMeeting/Remote Assistance/Remote Desktop Features.
The Product contains NetMeeting, Remote Assistance, and
Remote Desktop technologies that enable the Product or
other applications installed on the Workstation Computer
to be used remotely between two or more computers, even
if the Product or application is installed on only one
Workstation Computer. You may use NetMeeting, Remote
Assistance, and Remote Desktop with all Microsoft products;
provided however, use of these technologies with certain
Microsoft products may require an additional license. For
Microsoft and non-Microsoft products, you should consult
the license agreement accompanying the applicable product
or contact the applicable licensor to determine whether
use of NetMeeting, Remote Assistance, or Remote Desktop
is permitted without an additional license."
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/eula.mspx
In simpler language, the use of NetMeeting, as a component
of Microsoft Operating Systems, is only illegal if the
company is illegally using the OS itself. If a company
does not have proper licensing for the operating systems
installed on its companies computers, in accord with
Microsoft's Volume Licensing Agreement Policies, then
the use of MS NetMeeting would consequently be illegal,
as well.
You can learn more about MS volume licensing for the
XP Professional OS on this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/corpSmallBiz.mspx
The line in the Windows XP EULA which states:
"...use of these technologies with certain Microsoft
products may require an additional license."
...refers to the fact that, since NetMeeting allows a
user to share applications remotely, be they MS products
or not, those shared applications need to be properly
licensed, as well. So if an instructor was remotely
sharing Excel spreadsheets, and thus using a program
which comes with MS Office, and requires a separate
license from the OS license, he might need to look
into whether he is entitled to do so if the students
with whom he is sharing don't have a license for MS
Office software. Still, this is a technicality which I
seriously doubt that Microsoft would choose to pursue.
However, if a company is properly licensed for all the
operating systems in use on their computers, the use of
NetMeeting for commercial purposes is authorized under
the EULA for the operating systems being used. This is
essentially no different than using the Internet Explorer
browser to maintain a commercial website, or using the
Outlook Express program that comes with Windows to send
and receive company email. It's just another program that
is included under the license covering the parent operating
system.
A very good page for business users who want to incorporate
the use of NetMeeting into their business process is on the
Microsoft site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/NetMeeting/Corp/default.ASP
Microsoft even authorizes the royalty-free distribution of
NetMeeting:
"Microsoft NetMeeting, along with Microsoft Internet Explorer,
is available for royalty-free distribution within your company
or with your company's products and services."
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/NetMeeting/Corp/Distribute/default.ASP
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
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sublime1-ga
Additional information may be found from an exploration of
the links resulting from the Google searches outlined below.
Searches done, via Google:
"online course" netmeeting
://www.google.com/search?q=%22online+course%22+netmeeting
Netmeeting "end user license agreement"
://www.google.com/search?q=Netmeeting+%22end+user+license+agreement%22 |
