Live Meeting vs. Lync Online Comparison

Microsoft launched Office 365 last month which brings together cloud versions (which means hosted in Microsoft data centers and accessed through a browser) of it's communications and collaboration products into one offering. Office 365 includes:

• Microsoft Office Hosted Online: Excel, Word, and Power Point  delivered via the Web and accessed from a PC, Phone and Browser.

• Exchange Email Online:  Exchanged e-mail server hosted by Microsoft with always-up-to-date protection from viruses and spam.

• SharePoint Online:  Microsoft's intranet tool now hosted online for creating sites to connect colleagues, partners and customers.

• Lync Online (formerly Microsoft Office Communicator):  Cloud-based instant messaging, presence, and online meeting experiences with PC-audio, video conferencing and desktop sharing.

A lot of Microsoft Live Meeting customers have been asking what the difference is between Lync Online vs. Live Meeting.  We had a team of six business users test both products for the past two months.  The end conclusion is that, for Web conferencing needs (share presentations, documents, web browser or entire desktop), Lync Online is not even close to Live Meeting in terms of functionality and ease of use.  The following includes a summary of our findings:

• Live Meeting:  Probably one of the best web conferencing services on the market.  Live Meeting is ideal for both smaller collaborative meetings as well as hosting larger Webinars.  Scheduling meetings is easy through the live meeting website or integration with Outlook and Lotus Notes.  For Webinars Live Meeting includes handy features such as attendee registration, reminder emails, polling, recording, Q&A online and capacity for up to 1,250 attendees per meeting.
• Lync Online:  Lync is the new name for Microsoft Office Communicator.  Lync Online is more geared towards instant messenger and presence (knowing who is at their desk) than web conferencing.  Lync installs a rather large instant messenger (IM) client (MACs not supported).  This seems to be ideal for a business that wants to connect to employees, clients and partners via instant messenger and webcams.  Within the IM client you can do very basic web conferencing such as sharing a power point presentation or desktop.  Lync does not include any features required for conducting webinars such as attendee registration.  Also Lync Online is limited to 250 attendees per meeting.  One final, and very important, note to make is that Lync online does not include any live phone support.  Everyone that tested Lync required assistance to set up and use.  The only support available is posting your problem or "how to" question to an Office 365 community blog for someone to post a response.  This was extremely frustrating as a Lync user.  It took three weeks of back and fourth posts to get my Lync working.  Further, what about external attendees that you invite to join a Lync Online meeting?  There is no one for them to call if they have problems or questions joining.

Features	Live Meeting	Lync Online	Notes
Meeting Capacity (Max attendees per meeting)	1,250	250
Features Before Your Meeting
Microsoft® Outlook & Lotus Notes Integration	•		Only Outlook integration is available with Lync.
Schedule Meetings via the Web	•		The only way to schedule a meeting via Lync is Outlook
Online Attendee Registration	•
Phone-based Training and Meeting Assistance	•		Live Meeting has 24/7 live suport for presenters and attendees joining. Lync Online has no phone support.
Features During Your Meeting
Instant messaging (IM) and presence		•
Power Point Presentation & Document Sharing	•	•
Desktop  & Software Application Sharing	•	•
Web Browser Sharing	•	•
White Board Sharing	•	•
Instantly Make Any Attendee a Co-Presenter	•	•
Remote Mouse Control  (Desktop Support)	•	•
Online Q&A	•
Polling and Surveys	•	•
Virtual Breakout Rooms	•
Advanced Testing	•
Handouts Distribution/File Transfer	•	•
Webcam Video Sharing	•	•
Two-Way or One-Way VoIP Audio	•	•
Audio Telephone Bridge Integration	•	•
Recording  (both audio and web) to your PC	•	•	* Note:  Lync online documentation states that recording is included but none of the testers could figure out how to record a meeting.
Hosted Recording Online Storage & Playback	•
Live 24x7x365 Live Technical Support	•
After Your Meeting
Attendance Reporting	•

Here is the link to the Lync Online community support site regarding the ability to record a meeting http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/164/t/3881.aspx.

In summary Microsoft Lync Online is more instant messenger and one-to-one webcam video than web conferencing.