Go to Meeting with Ekiga

The expectation when I am sent a GoToMeeting invite is that I am supposed to go to a Web site and then download a ton of proprietary garbage programming into my Web browser, which is not acceptable if I am running a libre system. If I don’t want to do that, I either have to borrow somebody else’s computer, which is inconvenient, or I have to just call in and miss all the visuals.

However, I noticed on my last GoToMeeting invite that there is an option for a direct connection over H323 protocol:

Zooming in:

To be safe I pixel-ized out a lot of the numbers, but it is an address combining an access code and an IP address. Evidently, GoToMeeting was only marketing to “Cisco devices”, but it also us to connect with Ekiga using the same protocol. Just open up Ekiga, and “dial in” like so:

That is “h323:” followed by the access code, followed by the ‘@’ symbol, followed by the ip address. You should then see something like so:

When the meeting starts, you’ll see the organizers screen, along with an image from your camera on the bottom right.

The image can be removed if it is in your way. Note however that your camera is still recording you, as well as your microphone. You’ll want to be sure to set up your speakers and microphone in such a way that the directivity of the microphone is away from speakers, or you will create feedback noise that will disrupt the whole meeting.

I don’t know if this system would allow you to present a meeting without proprietary software, but at least it allows you to participate.