La Apache Software Foundation announced the release of the new version of the web conferencing server "Apache OpenMeetings 6.0" which enables web-based audio and video conferencing, collaboration and messaging between attendees, plus both webinars with one speaker and conferences with an arbitrary number of participants interacting with each other are supported. The project code is written in Java and is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license.
Additional features include: tools to integrate with a calendar scheduler, send individual or broadcast invitations and notifications, share files and documents, maintain participants' address book, keep track of the event, jointly schedule tasks, broadcast the result of running applications (screencast demo), conducting surveys and polls.
One server can serve an arbitrary number of conferences held in separate virtual conference rooms and including your own set of participants. The server supports flexible permission management tools and a powerful conference moderation system. The management and interaction of the participants is done through the web interface. The OpenMeetings code is written in Java. MySQL and PostgreSQL can be used as DBMS.
Main new features of OpenMeetings 6.0
In this new version, in addition to some corrections and improvements, and about 40 problems will be addressed, among the main novelties that stand out, we can find that added the ability to run load tests and generate metrics to track performance using the Prometheus monitoring system.
In addition, it is also highlighted that the conferencing user interface has been divided into separate components and it has resulted in assembly using NPM package manager and dependency management using NPM. The development process has been made more convenient for frontend developers using JavaScript.
As well changes have been made to improve the security of the audio and video conferencing process, and to allow screen sharing using WebRTC technology. For OAuth, the TLS 1.2 protocol is involved.
On the other hand, it is mentioned that added ability to set limits for NetTest client (communication quality test) and general limits on the number of clients. Implemented settings for captcha output.
Of the other changes that stand out in this new version:
- Added option to disable recording.
- Work has been done to improve the stability of audio and video transmissions.
- The user interface for displaying notifications uses the web notification API, which allows you to use system mechanisms to display notifications on the desktop.
- Improved translations in the form to send invitations, the user's time zone is displayed.
- Added the ability to set and adjust the size of the video blocks of conference participants.
- The invitation form shows the time in the customer's time zone
- The size of the video pods can be fixed and configurable per user
- Captcha is now configurable
If you want to know more about the release of this new version, you can check the details within the official announcement. The link is this.
How to get Apache OpenMeetings 6.0?
Finally, for those who are interested in being able to obtain this new version, can go to the official website of the project and in its download section you can find the binary packages, as well as the code for their compilation or also a Docker image already prepared.
While in the case of those who use Arch Linux and derivatives can find the package ready in AUR.
Also, you can follow the instructions detailed in this link, where you will simply have to download the latest stable package of the application, unpack and run the binary to start the web installer.