[GnomeMeeting-list] To attention of Damien Sandras: offers for GM's wishlist...

[info <5740 mail ru>]

We use GM since november 2003 as main office intercomunication 
tool (instead of "traditional" office phonestation). It's about 
10 most active users with very different qualification: the 
highest is sysadmin, but not a programmer (it's I), the lowest 
is girl on reception, her qualification is so low that she have 
troubles with sending-receiving emails :-/ (but she succesfully 
used GM).
 
Each of our GM users make about 10-30 videoconferences per day. 

So, after 4 month of daily practice with GM, I want to ask you 
to add some features to Gnomemeeting. That features are 
necessary for using GM in such manner as we do it (i.e. as 
office intercom), but I think that they can me usable in other 
cases too. 

1. "Fast-call" panel.

The necessarity of this feature became evident when user every 
day make many calls to the same recipients (for example, the 
secretary in reception inform boss about visitor, or boss calls 
his subordinates, etc.). Addressbook's usage is too slow for 
this aims. 
So, it needs some panel that contain buttons, that establish 
connection by single click. This buttons must be associated 
with addressbook's records; on the surface of button must be 
the recipient's name from addressbook. 
Of course, it's not need automatically associate all 
addressbook's records with "fast-call" buttons. GM's user can 
do it manually, and only for most frequently-used recipients.


2. Hotkeys.

It will be greate if it will be a feature for accociating 
fast-call buttons will hotkeys. In this case, the handiness of 
GM's usage as office intercome will be equal with the handiness 
of traditional office phone-devices with "fast-call" buttons.

In addition, it will be good if it will be a hotkey for 
activating main GM's window in situations, when GM sits in tray 
only... 

3. Size tunability of popup windows

We tune our GMs in such manner that remote video appeared not in 
the main GM's window, but in new windows. We do it because that 
windows appeared on the decktop that is active in moment when 
call begins. 
But in our GM 0.98.5 that popup windows are small even if large 
size of video setted in main GM's settings. On our mind, it 
must be size tunability for both types of popup windows (i.e. 
remote and local video). 

In addition, it will be good if recirient's name will be 
displayed in popup windows in such manner as it done in main 
GM's window.

4. Microphone muting/unmuting.

Now, when GM sits in tray and wait calls, microphone isn't 
muted. It caused problems with noises in speakers...
Of course, microphone can be muted/unmuted manually by mixer... 
But it's not a comfortable way if you have 10-30 
videoconfereces per day...

So, it must be pair of user-selected feature in GM's settings: 
"automatically mute microphone when call ended" and 
"automatically unmute microphone when call begins".
 
5. Simultaneous calls

On our practice, it's often needs not "full" videoconference 
(i.e. when 3 or more peoples communicates all together)... It's 
will better to illustrate by example: boss call me, we speak, 
but in this moment some visitor come to reception and secretary 
call boss to report about this visitor... I don't need to see 
secretary's face, and hear her woice, and she don't need to see 
my face and hear my words addressed to boss only... But boss in 
this situation needs to see both our faces and hear both our 
voices... 

6. Conference encryption

This is the last wish to wishlist. Of course, the encrypting of 
videocoferencing can be provided via soft like IPsec, Freeswan 
etc. (i.e. by making virtual private network), but it isn't the 
best way. It's lockstep, in this case encryption will be 
avaliable only for members of this VPN. 

So, we think, that encryption's usage in videoconferencing must 
be such easy and flexible, as it is in e-mailing now. If you 
and I both want communicate via encrypted e-mails, we can do it 
very easy, without any VPN, isn't it?

In another words, as minimum in case of two-sided 
videoconference (i.e. 2 peoples speaks) the correspondents must 
have possibility of encryption's switching-on by 
"one-button-click" (i.e. button "Encryption" in main GM's 
window). I think, this isn't very difficult to built into GM 
something like ssh-like connection between 2 computers. 
Cryptographical algorithms is in linux kernel now... 

This is all for this moment. We will glad if at least some of 
our wiches will be included in you TODO.

And I hope that my bad English doesn't prevent understanding of 
our offer's essence.

Best regards, and good luck!

George