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<A NAME="History.html"><H4>How Did it Happen?</H4></A>

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When development of CU-SeeMe began in July 1992, the only real-time 
videoconferencing software for the Internet required expensive 
hardware which severely limited the number of potential senders and 
receivers.  The philosophy of the Cornell project was to start 
immediately with available, affordable hardware and deploy and use it 
as rapidly as possible, gaining hands-on experience and stimulating 
creative thinking as to the possible beneficial uses.  By opening 
Internet videoconferences to Macintosh users, the CU-SeeMe team hoped 
to accelerate the adoption and usefulness of desktop conferencing, 
including live video.   Because CU-SeeMe uses simple but efficient 
video frame-differencing and compression algorithms, it opens 
networked videoconferencing capability to users of lower cost desktop 
computers, and enabling broader participation in desktop video 
technology.   During 1993 this grassroots development strategy was 
realized as interest in CU-SeeMe grew rapidly with training and user 
support from the New York State Educational Research Network 
(NYSERNet).  NYSERNet spread the word among Internet users by 
providing one of the first "public" reflectors encouraging users to 
try the technology and test their connections. 
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