I'm currently on a business trip to the US to participate in several planning events for our next major JDeveloper release. The night before leaving, my wife asked me if I had remembered to work with our daughter to prepare her birthday invitation. She needed to give a copy to all the kids in her class at school while I would be in the US, so it was important that I get it done before leaving.
Unfortunately, I'd forgotten and the kid was fast asleep. Doh!
I told my wife not to worry. I'd think up something... She looked dubious, and made it clear that waking up our daughter to work on the card was out of the question. I went into the computer room and did a little testing to make sure my "plan B" was going to work. I slept easy knowing that I'd still be able to get the job done and not let my family down. Oracle iMeeting to the rescue.
Yesterday, at 8:30am in California I setup an instant meeting with our Oracle iMeeting collaboration software, and I called my daughter after she got home from school and stepped her through the couple of clicks she needed to do in the browser to join the interactive, online meeting. In a matter of seconds, there it was: the desktop of my home computer with my daughter at the mouse, and Powerpoint started. As I tried to explain to her what we were about to do, I said, "On my computer, I can see what you're doing." She said, "But Daddy, the video ball is not even plugged in, how can you see me?" I clarified, "I can see what's on your computer, not you, Honey."
With that cleared up, half a world apart, we began collaborating on her birthday card. We browsed through the online Microsoft Office clipart together to find some graphics that she liked, and then she used her mouse to position it where she liked it on the page. She called in Mamma to check the information about the date and time, and then we printed it out to the printer at home. Through the magic of the Internet, and Oracle Collaboration Suite: mission accomplished. Not as satisfying as reading a book to the kids before bed, but sure nice not to have let the family down...
12:52:54 AM 
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