CU-SeeMe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CU-SeeMe is an internet video-conferencing client. Unlike modern videoconferencing programs in which clients contact each other directly, CU-SeeMe required the use of server software called a "reflector".
[edit] History
CU-SeeMe was originally written by Tim Dorcey of the Information Technology department at Cornell University[1]. It was first developed for the Macintosh in 1992 and later for the Windows platform in 1994. Originally it was video-only with audio added in 1994 for the Macintosh and 1995 for Windows. CU-SeeMe's audio came from Maven, an audio-only client developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[2]
The commercial licensing rights were bought by White Pine Software in the late 1990s; CU-SeeMe was then released as a commercial product. Some users believe that White Pine Software ignored the product's original hobby market. While not directly competing against hardware-assisted video-conferencing companies, the market perception often was that White Pine was doing exactly that. Two reasons for lack of early wide acceptance of CU-SeeMe were its poor audio/video quality and its excessive latency. While the commercial and freeware products were useful to hobbyists, CU-SeeMe and its accompanying server product were also building a following in education - with up to 40% of commercial sales - and the United States military - which made use of the Conference Server MCU.
The discussions about the abandonment of the hobbyist market had some merit, but in reality White Pine never attempted to squash the freeware; it merely refrained from promoting it. This conflict was an early example of freeware proponents' resentment of the commercial product (in spite of the fact that the latter's price point declined over its lifetime from US$129 to US$29). The commercial server software commanded a much higher price, and was developed for Windows, Linux, and Solaris. One could argue that a tremendous consumer opportunity was lost by not vigorously attempting other business models, but the possibilities of that alternate reality will never be seen.
White Pine Software was briefly renamed CU-SeeMe Networks, then merged with First Virtual Communications; at some point the commercial standalone client was decommissioned. (An independent company used a version of the embedded commercial CU-SeeMe client renamed CU as part of a fee-based video chat service called CUworld.) The commercial client and server environment evolved further, was renamed "Click To Meet" and along with a much-enhanced and more scalable version of the software MCU, became the major offering of First Virtual.
On March 15th, 2005, Radvision Ltd. acquired substantially all of the assets and intellectual property of First Virtual Communications (FVC), including its Click to Meet (formerly CUSeeMe) and Conference Server MCU solutions.
There is still a small but active community of users of CU-SeeMe. Although there have been no releases of software from the various incarnations of White Pine since roughly 2000, freeware alternatives are available for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms such as VChat. Searching the Web may locate the CU-SeeMe "reflectors" that are still operational.
