Microsoft Office Live Meeting vs OS X Mavericks

Ever got an invitation to one of those "fancy" Microsoft Office Live Meetings, only to end up scratching your head how the heck could you access it from your Mac? Especially if you were running Mavericks?

Ever got an invitation to one of those "fancy" Microsoft Office Live Meetings, only to end up scratching your head how the heck could you access it from your Mac? Especially if you were running Mavericks? Well, apparently I am in the same boat now.

(And yes, I know I could borrow someone else's Windows machine, or just join the meeting from one of our office phones. But it's not really about making our lives easier, is it?)

Anyway, after some online digging around, it seems it might be doable after all. Just.

Get new Java

First step everyone mentions is some specific Java configuration. The problem is that my system doesn't seem to have any Java Preferences anywhere. What gives?

jayv. to the rescue - quoting after How do I find Java Preferences in OS X Mavericks? discussion in Apple Support Communities:

OS X no longer has the Java control panel included. If you want control over your Java settings download and install the latest Java version from the Oracle website, this will put a control panel in your system preferences.

http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

Java is also disabled by OS X when it has not been used in a while and/or is outdated, installing this latest version will fix that.

Download. Install. Try again.

Configure Java

Go to Systems Preferences and then Java - this will open Java Control Panel in a separate window:

  • Under General tab, select setting Run applets: in their own process (some Mac computers do not have this option, like mine for that example)

  • Go to the Advanced tab:

    • Under Debugging section check the following: Enable tracing, Enable logging and Show applet lifecycle exceptions
    • Under Java Console section select Show Console
    • Under Mixed code (sandboxed vs. trusted) security verification section select Enable - hide warning and run with protections

Restart Firefox

Or whichever browser you are using for that. Only if it is already open obviously.

Go to your meeting URL

In theory, you should have it in your invitation email, or in the event in your calendar (look for Join the meeting there) - but that's just the theory.

I mean, I have it too, all nicely blue and underlined, the only issue is that... it's not really a link. Oh well.

If that's your case as well, you can always go to Live Meeting Web Console join meeting page and provide all your meeting details there - you should have them in your meeting invitation email too, in the Troubleshooting section.

Participate in the meeting

I'll see how this goes on Monday, when my meeting is scheduled to happen. I will keep my phone handy, just in case...