When will meetings be available for Linux?

Most of my collegues are on Windows and would like to update to a newer TeamViewer version, but as we heavily use the Meeting and VideoCall features, I have to stay on TV 11 with Wine on Linux - and so they are stuck on 11 on Windows as well. Are there any plans to release this feature for Linux or should we look for an alternative solution?

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bfkmnemonic

Yes. I would also like this feature to work in Teamviewer, as it is something I often need.

mj162

Good afternoon Esther,

Thank you, I'm grategul for you coming back so promptly in these uncertain times.

To be clear, from my reading there is widespread acknowledgement of TeamViewer's capability. Some vendors regard the Unix/Linux sector as not being mainstream and so one they have no interest now (or possibly ever) in serving. Others, send mixed messages in which they persue a self-fulfilling prophecy of not promoting, or providing limited accessibility, and then claiming that there is little demand. Others claim wide cross-platform support in their headlines, but when you look beneath those claims, the platforms are not treated on a par with some being consigned to being treated as ugly sister.

It's a business decision for TeamViewer, of course. However I suspect that the community would welcome some forward guidance. Software choices tend to end-up being strategic: Ten years later, one's still using the same software. Therefore it's useful for vendors to signal their intentions with integrity and without banking future regret raising expectations unnecessarily with unhelpful jam tomorrow promises.

Kindest regards

mamatt

+ 1

Would really help with the daily business. Especially during this COVID times.

SigiHuber

Hello Esther

I hereby declare my interest in Meeting for Linux.

I am really looking forward to being able to use it on my Ubuntu Desktop instead of having to switch to a Windows machine in order to use it.

Regards
Sigi

Esther

Hi @rolandg

Thanks for your post!

We are not offering public roadmaps, but I was again pushing this topic internally!

And thanks a lot for keep on asking for Meeting for Linux! Whether or not features are being implemented and released depends heavily on the user's request!

Also, please feel free to join our TeamViewer User Focus Program that is aiming to solve the right problems and to build the right features.

Launch of the TeamViewer User Focus Program

Thanks again and best,

Esther

mj162

Thanks Alex (and others) for comments and contributing to the thread.

It's not the age of the machines of the family that I'm worried about but age of the family. My father is in his nineties and way-over the other-side of the big pond. As oxymoronic as it may seem, yes I gave him a flash-based Linux thin client choced-full of quality apps.

Yesterday a nice gentleman from the original well-known conferencing company called me about a case. As our Client is an international bank, I tried it on (again), asking (innocently) for a Linux Desktop Client as the Client had upped its corporate package with them and had just rolled-out new integration features that during COVID I wanted to take-advantage of. He was keen to share screens. I showed him the issues (crashing) using their WebRTC browser app that made it important to me that they made available a Meetings Linux Destop Client. Two-days on, the ticket is still open. They're large, complex, slow and have been caught rabbit-in-the-headlights-like with the opportunistic growth of you-know-whom this pandemic. With unadvertised downloads, and datasheets written in doublespeak, their support of Linux in their communication and collaboration product suite can at times appear to be one that dare not speak it's name. It'll be taking the tech this long to work what they do actually have, what it does (and, perhaps more importantly, doesn't) do.

Today, I had a hour-long call with a nice gentleman in business development with an Eastern European cloud and on-premise conferencing firm. They have a nice Linux Desktop Client that includes SIP telephony. He was at pains to explain, that they've only removed Meetings while they improve it. Yes, it has full remote control.

My point? I'd love to buy TeamViewer's products - I've bought, and continue to spend sums on software for my small business and greatly respect and appreciate software companies based in highly regulated countries that derive their revenue from product sales and not monetising Customers' personal data...

But both the redoubtable TeamViewer (and the afore-mentioned highly-respected corporate behemoth) have to realise that Linux Customers can't buy what we can't buy. We do have choice. Much as we may trust and like to buy from company X, if it's actually company Y that's actively supporting Linux (as a platform - not as a religion), then it really-is a no-brainer who'll ultimately collect and pass go.

Have to go now: I see from my Linux Desktop App (from you know whom), that they've issued another release, so I'll need to update our Linux Thin Clients -- impressively they seem to be releasing Linux builds every other week...

Keep safe all of you.

ChristophCPR

Would be nice.

And it seems like it's already possible:

MLg1ZJo

Screenshot shows the Ubuntu Teamviewer 15.9.4 Desktop Client

Rainer3

I'm also very interested in the answer to this question. I need a screen-sharing tool for remote seminars including a lot of cooperative-coding.

kaikraemer

Same to me. Today I stuckt on this feature connecting to a customer meeting. At the end I had to switch my computer off to reboot on windows.

Will the meeting function be provided in near future?

mj162

You guys are ahead of me, but I am seeing similar use cases.

I never heard of TeamViewer 24 hours ago. After regretting having flapped about on the website for hours, and tried 15.5.3 [NI] on Ubuntu to evaluate the meetings capability, I wasn't aware that Meetings wasn't available in the Linux client. Obviously I can see that there is no Meetings tab in the client, but the website didn't make-clear, before I downloaded it, that the Linux client cannot be used for meetings.

Potentially a nice product but in the hours since I "discovered" TeamViewer, my motivation to try and buy is evaporating and I am now regretting having spent valuable time on something it's fast looking like is "not for me".

@kaikraemer wrote:
Same to me. Today I stuckt on this feature connecting to a customer meeting. At the end I had to switch my computer off to reboot on windows.
Will the meeting function be provided in near future?

rolandg

@Estherwhere can we find the TV roadmap for Linux ?

bfkmnemonic

Thank you Ester for pushing this.

alex-nitsche

My cents are: I am using Debian Linux for my work as a coder as well as in my freetime except when playing games. Furthermore i am installing Debian on all machines of my family which are of older age and too old for Windows 10. I would love to use TeamViewer as a meeting and remote control tool with all my family and working colleagues .. Nevertheless big thumbs up for your tool. Greetings, Alex

mj162

Please forgive the faux pas of replying to my own post, but it's the end of a long week and I thought that at least some of you would be interested in knowing how I got on. The story so far for anyone who's jumped into the middle of this thread, is that there are a number of folk here that are marooned on TV 11 unable to upgrade to TV 15 because it doesn't support meetings. I butted-in when I read-of, and empathised-with, the experiences of busy developers and support technicians using TV's take-control features constantly but increasingly needing to be present in online meetings. The shared-experience was one of dispirited resignation that, as a platform, a respected supplier appeared to treat Linux as a Cinderella.

So today's update on my open case is that this morning, the technical assistance engineer from Behemoth Conferencing Inc., responded-back with, supposedly, what I'd requested -- a direct download link to their Meetings Desktop Client for Linux. Busy and possibly a little cynically, I started to compose my reply befor even reading his message fully. Yes, he'd included a link, but I could see that it was just a generic one. I stopped myself. I was sure the results would be predictable, but I should at least, I thought, follow the engineer's instructions. And, if it doesn't work, I can always re-do and take screenshots or recording to "prove" the grief it's giving me.

The link he'd provided was one to my banking Client's branded site hosted by them. So I opened it in Firefox on my local desktop and clicked the Download link that appeared on the page. Unlike the link on their public site, this link actually did something. It took me to an entirely blank page (yes I viewed source and got the HEAD) called "undefined". By now, not greatly surprised, I tried the same link on my desktop in Canary Wharf over a well-know virtual desktop technology. This time, the same link proffered a .MSI payload.

At least he was attempting to engage and help. If I replied-back with a flame it wouldn't be long before my SR was closed. So I took a few deep breaths and replied-back that there appeared to be some javascript browser-detect jiggery-pokery such that visiting the download page from other-than Android, IOS, OSX or Windows would lead to this silent failure somewhat reminiscent of the contemptuous messages issued in NOSCRIPT blocks.

Give him credit, he did reply-back intraday with a new link, warning me that their native Meetings Desktop Client was 72 MB saying that "it is for everyone, not just thin clients" and that I might have restrictions from installing it. Well, I thought, thanks for the warning but I think I can just-about manage to work-out which end of a package to open.

Clicking it lead me to a download page with the above mentioned four OSes on it. The two smartphone OS links were just links to their respective markets. The two actual download buttons were for Windows and Mac. I managed to compose a (what I thought was a) polite reply back saying that the Linux client wasn't there and again requesting that he reply back with a direct link so that the SR could be closed. That was 7pm this evening so I don't have high hopes of hearing back before Monday.

Others I've spoken-to on the phone there have been contemptuous of using their products from Linux but he hadn't been. I shouldn't impugn his good faith attempt to help me and I pondered what it must be like to be in his shoes after three rounds of email exchanges following a phone call and share screen, that he was seemingly struggling either to fulfill a simple request for the link to their Linux Meetings app, or say, authoritatively that they don't have one.

We know it costs money to include Linux among platforms supported for the market share that it enjoys. So we know that for some, it doesn't make economic sense, or, as one of Behemoth's said on a phone call a month ago, that Linux isn't a normal desktop operating system and that normal people... He didn't actually add those words, but he had already implied it.

All we ask is that, when it comes to Linux, that suppliers either support Linux on an all-fours basis with other platforms, or not bother at all and be clear and up-front.

The problem with some suppliers is that they profess support for Linux, but in reality, their loyalty is more aking to that of an unreliable boyfriend.

Stay safe.

bfkmnemonic

What version re you running? It is not available on version 15.9.4.

@ChristophCPR wrote:
Would be nice.
And it seems like it's already possible:

Screenshot shows the Ubuntu Teamviewer 15.9.4 Desktop Client

bfkmnemonic

You are in the wrong section. This is what you want.

ChristophCPR

I know that. But Linux doesn't have that section. That's what this whole post is about.

What I'm saying is that, even though meetings are turned off in the Linux desktop client, it seems like the feature is already implemented for Linux and that I'd like to be able to have the same features a Windows user has.

It's the 15.9.4 Client..

Maybe it's because I have a corporate License. It only works if you and your Contact are `friends` or whatever TV calls it when you connect to a contact.

For me it works for some contacts and Devices.

bfkmnemonic

We know it is there. It was working a couple of major release ago, but it is not now so....

Knat

+1 more

I would really appreciate this feature under Linux.

vinc1

i had this feature fully fonctionnal on native linux client v12. you push it out on the v13 or v14.

i think they refactor the meeting section of the app and don't want to bother with linux

so sad at this price !

mr_m3

We also use Teamviewer in our company and have personally requested for Linux-Teamviewer-Meetings . The last time we were told that a solution would be available in mid-2021. But unfortunately we are still empty-handed. I am very sad about this. I think there must be several admins who work with Linux, pay the full price for a corporate license and can't use the package completely. Even Microsoft has released Teams for Linux. Teamveiwer is lucky that MS Teams is a disaster.

utf

1/3 of our team is using Linux (8 persons). And we would really like to use TV Meeting because it ist located in germany und supports e2ee.

Kind regards

ChristianWolf

We also really appreciate this feature back under Linux.

We updatet from TV10 and now missing the feature on a lot of Linux desktops used at R&D and Support to support & meet our customer directly (without switching to smartphone).