When you are working in an office environment, it is more common than not that your computers are connected over a local area network LAN whether through a CAT5/6 cable or through a wireless WiFi router (in which case it would be WLAN). Working in such an environment, it is essential that you have the ability to easily communicate with your coworkers over the local network itself. An open-source software called BeeBEEP can be used to securely communicate other people over the same LAN.
BeeBEEP is an open-source instant messenger that utilizes the local area network in order to communicate with the other users of the same network. The program allows you to freely transfer files among other users within the range of the local LAN. It uses AES cipher to secure all the communications and works on all the popular operating systems like Windows, Linux and Mac.
BeeBEEP is available both in form of an installer package and as a portable program. The portable application does not require installation on the disk, which leaves no traces in the system. it uses your Windows user name to identify you but it can be changed if necessary. It is possible to conduct group conversations and to send messages to people who are not currently logged in. All the user activity is recorded in history.
You can configure BeeBEEP and change the icon style but that is all. There is not enough customization available. You can change what actions should it take upon startup and shutdown.
Conclusion: BeeBEEP is a very simple way to communicate with other people over the same LAN or WLAN network. It features strong AES encryption of all the communication, easy sharing of files and the desktop screen. You can also have group conversations with many different people at the same time.
You can download BeeBEEP from http://beebeep.sourceforge.net/.