Vyew – pronounced view – is a web-based web conference and online collaboration tool enables you to collaborate in real time. Despite a so-so interface, the functionality is powerful. Here is Vyew review from my first-hand experience.
Vyew, founded by a team of UC-Berkeley grads, highlights VyewBook – a shared workspace, in which you (and your colleagues) to upload, make notes, take screen captures, draw, and sharing functionality – all can be done on-demand.
What Vyew can offer you
Registering for a Vyew account is simple and easy. Filling out registration form will only take a minute or two, and within 5 minutes I am able to access the web tool.
You will be presented with 3 service versions: Free, Plus and Professional.
The Free version allows you to have up to 10 users to collaborate, along with 20 VyewBook limit (one VyewBook represents one active workspace.) Unfortunately, the free version will display ads on your workspace.
The Plus version, priced at $9.95/month, allows you to access more add-ons, such as custom URL and design for your VyewBook and the ability to expand “meeting room” participants (up to 80 users.)
The Professional version, priced at $19.95/month, offers everything the Plus version offers, plus custom branding and multiple meetings capability.
You won’t need to sign any contract – you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel your account at any time. However, there are a couple of perks if you pay upfront. A one-year upfront will save you 20%, while a two-year upfront will save you 30%.
Logging in, you will be presented with a window full of tools. At first, I think that the workspace look outdated. With plenty other online collaboration tools offering Web 2.0 interface, Vyew insists on sticking to the classics. Never mind that – what you actually need is the collaboration capabilities.
Inside, you can do almost anything you can think of about collaboration and web conferencing – you can start a meeting (create a new VyewBook) or schedule one; you can also invite people to join your meeting room or VyewBook, and when you have your team ready, you can start collaborating: Uploading presentations – including giving presentation to users – and documents, taking screenshots of your desktop, etc.
You can also talk and see other users with Vyew’s voice/webcam capability. Looking for conference calls or chatting function? You got them.
Please watch this video for a 3-minute overview on Vyew:
Is Vyew for you?
If you are doing presentations, webinars and web conferences, Vyew may be a great option for you. Vyew’s ability to enable you to engage your participants can help you do your business presentations and meetings well.
If you are mainly looking for collaboration and file sharing, Vyew can answer your basic needs. However, if you are looking for a more extended functionality, for example to share using a host of cloud apps, such as share to iPhone or connecting with other cloud apps, Vyew lacks of flexibility.
I recommend you to sign up with Vyew to see what it has got to offer you and your business.
