I have recently been requested to install some free software for a project that I'm involved with at work, and I though that I would pass it on to the group, should you find it useful.
VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is a multi-platform downloadable tool that can be used for various applicable scenarios, such as: educational demonstrations, IT Support / Help Desk situations (which could also be helpful if I'm trying to figure out a code error in Minneapolis and Justin has a quick solution that he could walk through with me from South Bend), trouble shooting from offsite, connecting to my work computer from home or to my home computer if I happen to be traveling, etc.
When VNC is installed on my machine and Jeremy's, for example, it allows Jeremy to connect to my machine and take control.
A situation where this may be applicable would be if a group of developers in South Bend wanted to learn up on a new topic and Dan Ficker in Dinkytown happens to be a subject matter expert. The group of developers could setup a computer installing VNC and provide Ficker with the IP address, . for server login, and session password for authentication (as configured during VNC installation), and Ficker would also have VNC installed on his machine. If the computer was also set up in such a way that the monitor output was directed to a presentation screen, Ficker could connect to that computer through the VNC, control the presentation to the audience in SBN, and potentially provide the audio portion of the presentation through some form of audio cast.
This is just a cool idea I recently found that could potentially replace the expense of web casting services, for certain scenarios. More information and a free download can be found at http://www.realvnc.com/how.html.
Hugh
VNC
I have also used VNC many times to connect to a computer at home or in a dorm. It is very nice. I was once in a computer lab at the University of Minnesota talking to a friend over instant messaging who was having computer troubles in Wisconsin, and I walked him through setting up a vnc server on his computer so I could take control of his computer and fix the problem from there. Lately I have been using Remote Desktop which comes with Windows XP Professional and simplifies things a little, but does not actually show the local computer what the remote person is doing.