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Conferencing is a form of group discussion that uses text messages stored on a computer as a communication medium. It does not include various types of real-time, or synchronous, communication, such as "chat rooms", voice-based teleconferencing, or video conferencing.
A conferencing system is Web-based if it uses Web browsers and servers to provide most of its functionality. This is not as clear a distinction as it might sound. Most developers of conferencing software are hurrying to adapt their products to the Web, and the result is a lot of hybrid products that use the Web to a greater or lesser extent. Hence, the boundary between Web and non-Web conferencing software is a bit blurry.
Systems that work with unmodified Web browsers and servers are of greatest interest, because they are the most easily accessible to the great mass of Web and intranet users. Any Web software that requires users to install a browser add-on, or even an entire proprietary browser, suffers a handicap, although such special-purpose software might give it a significantly better user interface.
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