Being there without being there
With the proliferation of online conferencing and collaboration tools, it's getting easier to avoid dragging yourself into the office for a meeting if you work from home or far-flung locations during the hazy days of summer.
Dozens of services and software products, such as WebEx.com, GoToMeeing.com and Microsoft's Live Meeting, have been around for a while, enabling people to meet virtually and share information without worrying about travel costs or time. But while many of these Web-conferencing and collaboration services offer lots of bells and whistles -- including audio, video, whiteboards, polls, and other interactive tools -- they've been rapped for being expensive and complicated.
Conferral, a new offering by Wellesley-based Xformx Inc., is taking a simpler and cheaper approach. It's integrated with Microsoft Office, so there's no steep learning curve if you already use Office products, and you can use Conferral as often as you want after paying a one-time fee (currently $199, $299 after a discount expires). No annual, monthly, or per-minute fees required.
Let's say you're on the Cape with a PowerPoint presentation on your laptop that you're trying to whip into shape. You need to run it past Bob, the project manager, who's in the office in Boston.
The file's too big to e-mail, and a phone conference just won't cut it because Bob needs to eyeball the changes. And Mary in Marketing might want a look, too.
Rather than head back to the office and cut into your time at the beach, you click on ''Confer" in PowerPoint's menu (put there when you installed the program), and choose ''Revise Live via Screen Confer." That generates an e-mail invitation with a link that Bob clicks to see what's on your screen as you discuss the details via phone.
Bob doesn't need to download any special software or plug-ins. All he needs is a Web browser. (And a program called Java, which anyone who regularly uses the Web should already have.) If Bob's using the Firefox browser, no problem. Conferral works with it, as well as with newer versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, and Safari.
As you go through the PowerPoint and make changes, you remember that Mary should be in on this, so you click on the small presenter's control toolbar at the top of your screen and send her an invitation, even with the meeting already in progress.
After the meeting, you click ''Confer" again and choose ''Send Files." This generates an e-mail with a link to a download page where Mary and Bob can grab a copy of the final presentation.
In addition to the ''Revise Live" and ''Send Files" features, Conferral allows you to run PowerPoint presentations (Confer Live), demonstrate whatever's running on your computer's desktop (Screen Share), let authorized users view (but not download) presentations (Presentation Library), or remotely retrieve files from your computer (Remote Access).
Some caveats: The paint's not quite dry on Conferral. It's missing some features that will be added in July. For instance, you can't currently see the names of the people you're conferencing with, just the number logged in. And while you can make changes to a document that can be viewed by someone else, they can't edit it.
And for security reasons, you can only retrieve files stored in your Remote Access file. You don't have access to your entire hard drive. You can't currently run programs remotely, and there's no teleconferencing included.
Setting up Conferral was a breeze. The program automatically configured itself to work through my firewall.
In addition to adding a ''Confer" menu to Word, PowerPoint and Excel, Conferral adds a toolbar to Microsoft Outlook that helps you easily schedule online meetings, send files, or launch the application.
While you can start up Conferral from within Office documents, you can do a lot more from the Conferral application. It sports a refreshingly clean, easy-to-navigate interface with a resemblance to Microsoft's Outlook.
Xformx also makes a great photo- and file-sharing product called ShareGear. If you've used it, you'll see some of ShareGear's file-sharing features gussied up for business use in Conferral.
Conferral requires a Pentium III, 500mhz or faster computer, Windows 2000 or higher, 384 MB RAM (512MB recommended), Microsoft Office 2000 or newer, and a high-speed Internet connection.
Meeting attendees need to be running Windows 2000 or higher, Mac OS X, or Linux and a supported Web browser. Java is required for some features to work, and a high-speed Internet connection is recommended.
Version 1.1 will add two-way controls for revising documents and controlling the screen, a name list so you can see who's logged on, streaming video, optional secure 128-bit SSL encryption, and remote control, so you can run applications on your computer remotely.
The upgrade will clearly make Conferral an even better deal. What would knock a future upgrade out of the park would be some type of low-cost teleconferencing.
For home office workers, road warriors, and anyone else who needs to occasionally collaborate while away from the office, Conferral delivers a lot of bang for the buck, payable just once.
Michelle Johnson is a freelance writer. She can be reached at mijohn@mail-me.com. 
