Microsoft is giving small businesses a new way to organize their meetings online using the free Skype Meetings product that aims to offer professionals free communication tools.
Skype Meetings is free, and people can host meetings with up to 10 people for the first 60 days of use. After that, they will be limited to hosting meetings with only three people or fewer. These meetings will have many features available, including the option to bring in participants using a link or to do a PowerPoint slide deck live presentation.
The new service is something of a “gimmick” to try to get people to join Skype for Business. That’s because Microsoft is putting restrictions on its users—very small businesses can use Skype Meetings for free, and larger companies will be encouraged to buy an Office 365 subscription to host large meetings.
However, Microsoft faces some light competition in this area, with Google pushing Hangouts chat and calling software and Slack quickly rolling out its phone capabilities to its popular chat app.
Skype Meetings gives users a professional space to collaborate, bring their work together, and present themselves to people outside their businesses without having to pay for Office 365. The ability to upload a PowerPoint presentation to a meeting and do things like wave a virtual laser pointer and draw on it with digital ink should be really interesting for people who do a lot of online presentations.
Microsoft says users can join a meeting from any device with a microphone, camera, speakers, and a web browser. It's unclear whether this product is browser-only or if it can also work with client applications, such as Skype or Skype for Business on smartphones and tablets.
Skype Meetings gives users a taste of more stable Skype for Business functionality, including the ability to host meetings with up to 250 participants and functionality that allows users to exchange instant messages with their colleagues through the system throughout the day.
